tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62154544133208431252024-02-02T09:32:35.114-08:00Analysis of international | National education statisticsThank you for visiting the Education section of the World web site. Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-10190483475438811642015-02-01T10:04:00.002-08:002024-01-19T00:09:22.404-08:00Education: Measuring for Success in Today’s World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
It’s been said that learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century. Sound a little exhausting? The fact is that there are fewer
and fewer jobs being created that rely on rote tasks and memorization.
There are more and more jobs that require creativity, teamwork, problem
solving, and ongoing learning. Indeed, it’s fair to say that the
illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and
write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Children need
to start acquiring these skills and attitudes early on, which is why
education systems around the world are increasingly focused on reforms
that involve setting and measuring new goals for learning that will
better ensure their graduates’ success in today’s world.<br />
Experience reveals three key lessons to keep in mind for those wishing to pursue these kinds of reforms:<br /></span>
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<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Lesson 1: Benchmark learning globally</b><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
In a global economy, the primary benchmark for success is no longer
improvement by national standards, but the best-performing education
systems internationally. (Having said that, it’s also important for
countries to set and measure learning goals that reflect their own
national priorities and values.) This usually means participating in one
of the many international assessment programs that test the math,
science, problem solving or other competencies of students at the same
grade or age level in different education systems around the world.
Countries – particularly developing and emerging economies – may feel at
a disadvantage in this global benchmarking, but should keep in mind
that steady improvement over time is the important thing. Korea, which
has shown remarkable progress in its education performance on the global
stage over the past decade or so (with its economy as the beneficiary),
is a good example of this.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Lesson 2: Believe that all children can learn</b><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
You must commit to the belief that all children can achieve. No longer
can there be a ‘fast’ track for some students and a ‘not so fast’ track
for others that leads to dead-end opportunities. One of the secrets
behind the highest-performing education systems (think Finland,
Singapore, and Japan) is a belief that every child can learn and succeed
no matter where they are from or where they go to school. Measuring for
success in today’s world means measuring for everyone’s success.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Lesson 3: Spend wisely to make a difference in learning</b><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
More money makes a difference up to a point. After that, what matters
for learning is the quality of the spending choices. When it comes to
measuring key learning goals for today’s world, one of the best
investments is to build capacity in the classroom. This includes
developing and retaining high-quality teachers who are able to engage in
the kinds of instructional and assessment practices that support
student learning in areas that are harder to measure on traditional
tests, such as creativity and team work. These so-called non-cognitive
or 21<sup>st</sup> century skills are vital to success in today’s workplace.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Next week, Russia will host a high-level global conference on the theme of “Measuring for Success”
in St. Petersburg. The conference will explore a variety of student
learning goals – for further study, work, and life – and the key role
that measurement and assessment play in monitoring and achieving them.
The conference is the result of a five-year partnership between Russia
and the World Bank to support the improvement of learning outcomes at
the global and country level. Countries such as Armenia, Kyrgyz
Republic, Tajikistan, and Vietnam will share their successes and
challenges ahead. These countries are proof that education systems that
take learning and measurement of learning seriously are creating a
foundation that will better ensure success for all their children in
today’s world.</span></div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-44486897713593368062015-02-01T09:59:00.000-08:002015-05-06T08:12:26.030-07:00Education for All by Worldbank<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="c14v1-static-content">
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<div class="paragraph clearfix">
<img src="http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Brief/Education/Hoel_110803_DSC_1209_lowres%20-%20Copy.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.resized.520x347%21.png" title="" /><br />
Education
for All (EFA) is an international initiative first launched in 1990 to
bring the benefits of education to “every citizen in every society.” To
realize this aim, a broad coalition of national governments, civil
society groups, and development agencies such as UNESCO and the World
Bank Group committed to achieving six specific education goals:<br />
<ol>
<li>Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education,
especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.</li>
<li>Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in
difficult circumstances, and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have
access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary education of good
quality.</li>
<li>Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are
met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills
programs.</li>
<li>Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for
women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all
adults.</li>
<li>Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by
2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on
ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic
education of good quality.</li>
<li>Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the
excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes
are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life
skills.</li>
</ol>
In 2000, 189 countries and their partners adopted the two EFA goals
that align with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2 and 3, which refer
to universal primary education and gender parity. The World Bank
recognizes that achieving these goals requires supporting the full EFA
commitment.<br />
<b>Why is EFA important?</b><br />
Although there has been steady progress towards achieving many EFA goals, many challenges remain:<br />
<ul>
<li>Today, an estimated 250 million children around the world are unable
to read and write, even after spending three or more years in school.</li>
<li>In 2012, 58 million children were <a href="http://worldinsuranceinfo.com/" target="_blank">out of school</a>; half of these children lived in conflict-affected countries.</li>
<li>In sub-Saharan Africa, girls accounted for 56% of out-of-school children in 2012.</li>
<li>In 2011, only 60% of countries had achieved gender parity in enrollment at the primary level and 38% at the secondary level.</li>
<li>In around one-third of countries, fewer than 75% of primary school teachers are trained according to national standards.</li>
<li>In 2011, around half of young children had access to pre-primary education, and in sub-Saharan Africa the share was only 18%.</li>
</ul>
Achieving the Education for All goals is critical for attaining all
eight MDGs—in part due to the direct impact of education on child and
reproductive health, as well as the fact that EFA has created a body of
experience in multi-partner collaboration toward the 2015 targets.
Simultaneously, achieving the other MDGs, such as improved health,
access to clean drinking water, decreased poverty, and environmental
sustainability, are critical to achieving the education MDGs.<br />
<b>What is the World Bank doing to achieve EFA?</b><br />
The Bank supports EFA through multidimensional efforts to:<br />
<ul>
<li>Improve educational quality and learning outcomes</li>
<li>Improve primary school access and equity</li>
<li>Improve the dropout and retention rates of girls, as well as their learning outcomes</li>
<li>Promote early childhood development</li>
</ul>
Protect EFA prospects in fragile statesThe Bank helps countries
achieve their education goals through finance and knowledge services in
the forms of analytic work, policy advice, and technical assistance.<br />
<br />
Policy work is a key component of the Bank’s work to realize EFA. The Bank’s <a href="http://worldinsuranceinfo.com/category/auto-insurance/" target="_blank">Systems Approach for Better Education Results Initiative</a>
(SABER), for example, collects and analyzes policy data on education
systems around the world, using evidence-based frameworks to highlight
policies and institutions that matter most to promote learning for all
children.<br />
The World Bank Group also supports the <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/the-global-partnership-for-education-and-the-world-bank-group-the-facts">Global Partnership for Education</a> (GPE), as a Board Member, host of the GPE Secretariat, trustee and supervising entity for the vast majority of GPE grants.<br />
Finally, the World Bank also supports EFA efforts through analytic
work and sharing of global knowledge and good practice. The Bank’s
analytic work has, for example, helped establish benchmarks for quality,
efficiency, and resource mobilization in the education sector.<br />
Last Updated: Aug 04, 2014</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-24090843743738088132015-02-01T09:53:00.002-08:002024-01-19T09:10:45.323-08:00Where Health and Education Meet, Children Win<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Where Health and Education Meet, Children Win" class="detail__media__img-highres js-detail-img js-detail-img-high" height="232" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpatientengagementhit.com%2Fimages%2Fsite%2Ffeatures%2FGetty_Images_Med_School.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=baabf6cd0f3e1b19030d0c4341cbca55f656284fceadedcf0bcb35d80b6adc15&ipo=images" style="display: block; height: 400px; width: 690px;" title="Where Health and Education Meet, Children Win" width="400" /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">
Every mom wants a healthy baby. And in the early days of a child’s life,
parents and doctors understandably focus on how the baby’s physical
development—is she gaining weight? Is he developing reflexes? Are they
hitting all of the milestones of a healthy and thriving child?<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
But along with careful screenings for physical development, there is an
excellent opportunity to tap into those same resources and networks to
promote early cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development. This
helps children everywhere have a strong start in life, ensuring that
they are able to learn as they grow and fulfill their potential
throughout childhood.<br />
Save the Children works with partners around the world to integrate
early childhood development interventions into programs in innovative
ways—figuring out what works in local contexts and building an evidence
base with governments to effectively support children and parents in the
early years.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
In El Salvador, for example, we worked jointly with the Ministry of
Health and National Academy of Pediatricians to design a screening tool
to measure development in children under five. This empowers doctors and
health workers to screen for development alongside health check-ups.
Now when parents take their children to “healthy child control’’
checkups, children receive a comprehensive developmental evaluation so
that the medical staff can identify risks early and advise on
age-appropriate activities. By encouraging parents to exclusively
breastfeed for the first six months or mimic the babbling sounds that
their two to four-month old baby makes, these health experts are putting
parents and young children on the path to success.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Medical staff in communities throughout El Salvador have been trained on
this screening tool, and among 100 health centers evaluated, Save the
Children found that not only are medical staff using the screening tool,
but 95% are using it properly. The program has been brought to schools
nationwide, and the Ministry of Health expects to reach hundreds of
thousands of children, from birth to age five, in the early years of
implementation.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Non-state actors like Save the Children can work with governments to
find innovative approaches that meet the specific needs of the local
population, and government commitment can turn this approach into
scalable, sustainable change for children. This type of partnership is a
win-win: When all parties are willing to look at a problem from new
angles, real and lasting solutions can help children in those critically
important first few years of life.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Thanks to our early experience and success, Save the Children was
invited to be part of the El Salvadoran government’s team to design the
new national early childhood development curriculum. We are now, along
with other organizations, supporting the national roll-out of the
curriculum and providing feedback to the government on community and
center-level implementation.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Early childhood development is not limited to health, and it begins long
before a child enters the classroom. Now, thanks to the leadership of
the El Salvadoran government, the partnership of NGOs like Save the
Children, and the support of health workers, parents and communities,
children across the country are getting a stronger start in life—and the
chance to build a better future for themselves.<br /></span>
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Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-47113459184324692622015-02-01T09:49:00.001-08:002024-01-19T09:14:00.578-08:00Leveling the Playing Field from the Start: The Power of Early Childhood Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img class="detail__media__img-thumbnail js-detail-img js-detail-img-thumb" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.vH4SUfM0HFiUjO-dpwUwKgHaEO%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=e413b55aef95a94b35630ea32db4d3a2eba3796bd169565d3b4cc2ab9c0647c4&ipo=images" style="display: none; height: 449px; width: 785.942px;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Today, I had the pleasure of participating in a keynote discussion at the Education World Forum
in London--a large annual gathering of education decisionmakers from
around the world. We focused this morning on how to use and translate
data generated by education systems into better policies and effective
results.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
My fellow panelists which included Baroness Lindsay Northover, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at the UK’s Department for International Development, and Professor Eric Hanushek
from Stanford University, made excellent points about the link between
education outcomes and economic growth. They also spoke about the ways
to reach the 58 million children from marginalized communities who
remain out of school.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
I chose to focus on investments in the youngest children, from birth to age 5, before they even enter primary school.<br />
Why? Early childhood development is a very important topic that we don’t
talk enough about. It’s critical to level the playing field at this
early stage.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
In fact, investing in young children through early childhood development
programs—ensuring they have the right stimulation, nurturing and
nutrition—is one of the smartest investments a country can make to
address inequality, break the cycle of poverty, and improve outcomes
later in life.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
What are the advantages of early childhood development
programs? First, these ensure healthy development and protect learning
ability. Second, the programs have a long-term impact. They can nurture
future productivity and raise income in a child’s adult life. Third,
they can be designed in a cost-effective way.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Far too few children, especially those from the poorest families, benefit from this critical service. Consider the data:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Leveling the Playing Field from the Start: The Power of Early Childhood Development" class="detail__media__img-highres js-detail-img js-detail-img-high" height="228" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.p2pfinancenews.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F05%2Flevel-playing-field-1024x585.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=532e22017ee2a4316ee55ea33a6c97cb8cd22dc26758ac5ac320146fecf1a593&ipo=images" style="display: block; height: 449px; width: 785.942px;" title="Leveling the Playing Field from the Start: The Power of Early Childhood Development" width="400" />
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">
Less than 50% of three-year-old to six-year-old children in developing countries receive any form of pre-primary education.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">
Developing countries spend 12 times less on preschool education than the average OECD country.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">
A quarter of all children under age five worldwide are physically
stunted, which harms brain development and delays school enrollment.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
If we want to improve basic learning outcomes across the world,
especially among children from poor families, we need to invest in
quality early childhood programs that support growth and cognitive
development from a very early age.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
I know from firsthand experience in my home country, Brazil, what a
difference these programs can make: from Saturday classes for parents
who stay at home with their children to day care centers- targeting the
poorest families- staffed with certified and trained early childhood
teachers. This is indeed possible and the results are eye-opening and
measurable.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
The key question is: how can we use data to work together with
policymakers to expand the coverage of these programs at a low enough
cost that it is affordable and sustainable…given all the existing
demands on public resources?<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
I am pleased to say that early childhood development is an important component of the World Bank Group’s Learning for Insurance Education Strategy.
Over the past 14 years, we have invested $4 billion in early childhood
development through multi-sectoral projects, including health,
nutrition, education and social assistance.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Last month, we presented a new publication for policy makers and practitioners about how to invest in young children titled “Stepping up Early Childhood Development.”
This guide identifies 25 essential interventions that span the
education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, and social protection
sectors. We also recently launched an eLearning course on strategies to help children get a head start.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
In addition to financing projects and research, we are expanding the
global knowledge. Impact evaluations of early childhood development
programs in low and middle-income countries are already influencing the
policy dialogue. The most famous impact evaluation on the subject comes
from a 20-year study of a group of children in Jamaica, which found that combining health and education interventions in early childhood increased future earnings by 25%.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
Another example is the World Bank’s evaluation of a community-based preschool program in Mozambique run by Save the Children,
which showed that children enrolled in preschool were better prepared
for the demands of schooling than children who did not attend preschool
and that they were more likely to start primary school by age six.
Mozambique has now invested more in young children.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
We know that early nutrition and well-designed parenting programs
through home visits can be very effective in avoiding stunting and
improving the interaction between caregiver and children under two.
Quality, center-based care, such as in preschools, for children aged
three to six has also shown positive impacts in a number of settings.
Cash transfers have been documented as having significant, positive
impacts in a child’s development, particularly when cash grants are
paired with parenting information. There is a valuable discussion on the
importance of parenting practices and mindset in our latest World Development Report on Mind, Society, and Behavior, in its fifth chapter.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
What is the next step? We (collectively) need to redouble our efforts to
continue to think outside of the box and experiment with different
approaches/alternatives (technology and media,
for example, have a huge untapped potential; rigorously evaluate along
the way; and refine our projects and policy advice accordingly and on an
ongoing basis.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
At the World Bank Group, we are committed to use data to continue
ramping up our support to early childhood development programs and
knowledge generation. I invite you to tell me about your experience.</span></div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-21021445649409482952015-02-01T09:35:00.002-08:002015-02-01T09:35:50.047-08:00Background information on education statistics in the UIS Data Centre<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Background information on education
statistics in the UIS Data Centre</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The following symbols
are used:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 58.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; tab-stops: list 58.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -53.25pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">…<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">No
data available </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 5.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 99%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 58.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; tab-stops: list 58.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -53.25pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 99%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">*<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 99%;">National estimation </span><sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 99%;"></span></sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 4.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 87%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 58.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; tab-stops: list 58.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -53.25pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 87%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">**<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 87%;">UIS estimation </span><sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 87%;"></span></sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 111%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 58.0pt; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 111%;">For regional averages: Partial imputation due
to incomplete country coverage (between 33% to 60% of population) </span><sup><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 111%;"></span></sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 8.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 58.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; tab-stops: list 58.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -53.25pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Magnitude
nil or negligible </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 6.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 57.0pt; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Not applicable</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 99%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 99%;">Data
releases</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 99%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: .05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 8.0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 105%;">The UIS releases data on its website concerning
formal education systems three times every year – in January, May and October.
Stay informed of the latest data releases by signing up for the UIS email alert
service at <span style="color: blue;">www.uis.unesco.org</span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Data sources</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.95pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 100%;">The
UIS collects education statistics in aggregate form from official
administrative sources at the national level. Collected information encompasses
data on educational programmes, access, participation, progression, completion,
internal efficiency and human and financial resources. These statistics cover
formal education in public (or state) and private institutions (pre-primary,
primary, basic and secondary schools, and colleges, universities and other
tertiary education institutions); and special needs education (both in regular
and special schools).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 100%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.3pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">These
data are gathered annually by the UIS and its partner agencies through the
following three major surveys that can be downloaded from the UIS website at <u><span style="color: blue;">www.uis.unesco.org/UISQuestionnaires</span></u></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 50.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo5; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; tab-stops: list 50.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -16.45pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">i)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">UIS
survey </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 5.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 101%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 50.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 101%;">The UIS education questionnaires are sent to
UNESCO Member States annually. The questionnaires are based on international
standards, classifications and measures that are regularly reviewed and
modified by the UIS in order to address emerging statistical issues and improve
the quality of data. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">ii)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">UOE
survey </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 5.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">UNESCO-UIS, the OECD and Eurostat (UOE) have
jointly administered this annual data collection since 1993. The UOE
questionnaire compiles data from high- and middle-income countries that are
generally members </span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<div class="WordSection2">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="page3"></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 111%;">or
partner countries of the OECD or Eurostat. The UOE survey gathers more detailed
education statistics.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 111%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">iii)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">World
Education Indicators (WEI) programme </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 100%;">The WEI programme provides a platform for
middle-income countries to develop a critical mass of policy-relevant education
indicators beyond the global core set of education statistics. This also allows
for direct comparisons to countries participating in the UOE survey. The
collection of data from WEI countries is based on a common set of definitions,
instructions and methods that were derived from the OECD Indicators of National
Education Systems (INES) programme. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">Participating countries in the WEI data
collection are Argentina, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Malaysia,
Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Population estimates</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 103%;">Population data are based on the 2012 revision
of the World Population Prospects by the United Nations Population Division
(UNPD). The UNPD does not provide data by single year of age for countries with
a total population of less than 50,000 inhabitants. Where UNPD estimates are
not available, national data or UIS estimates are used.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: .05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 111%;">For
more information on UNPD estimates, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 111%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Economic statistics</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 102%;">Data on economic indicators such as Gross
domestic product (GDP) and Purchasing power parity (PPP) are World Bank
estimates as of December 2013. For countries where GDP estimates are not
published by the World Bank, data are obtained from the United Nations
Statistics Division (UNSD).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 102%;"></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="page5"></a><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Technical
notes</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">A. Education data and
indicators</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 112%;">Regional
averages are based on both publishable data and on non publishable estimated or
imputed data. They are calculated based on data of April 2013.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 112%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 101%;">There
are cases where an indicator theoretically should not exceed the maximum value
(for example the adjusted net enrolment rate), but data inconsistencies may
have resulted in the indicator exceeding the theoretical limit. In these cases,
“capping” has been applied, while maintaining the same gender ratio (For more
details, please find the capping definition in the online glossary <u><span style="color: blue;">http://glossary.uis.unesco.org/glossary/en/home</span></u>).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 101%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.3pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 111%;">Due to
rounding, Gender parity indices (GPI) may differ from those based directly on
reported values.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 111%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.1pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 104%;">The
percentage of females (% F) is included to provide information on the
proportion of girls enrolled with respect to the total enrolment. For gender
parity, a more relevant measure is the GPI.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 104%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 111%;">Two
Special Administrative Regions – Hong Kong and Macao – are reported separately
from data for China.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 111%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 100%;">Data
on pre-vocational or pre-technical programmes: Data for pre-vocational
programmes for ISCED levels 2, 3 and 4 for countries carrying out the UIS
regular education survey are included in those for general programmes. For
countries carrying out the WEI/UOE survey, data for pre-vocational programmes
for these ISCED levels are included in those of technical/vocational
programmes. Therefore, data users are kindly requested to take this into
account when comparing data by type of orientation for the two groups of
countries.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 100%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Adult education:
Educational programmes that are specifically designed for adults are not within
the scope of the UIS regular data collection. These programmes are covered by
the WEI/UOE data collection but countries are requested to report enrolment
data for these programmes separately. To ensure comparability of enrolment data
and the related indicators for all countries, adult education data are removed
from data published by UIS for all WEI/UOE countries which provide appropriate
breakdown of enrolment data. However, adult education data may still be
included for few countries, which may slightly affect the comparability of their
enrolment data and indicators with the rest of countries.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">B. Education finance</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 104%;">Expenditure
on pre-primary education or from international sources – both of which are
often comparatively small – have been treated as negligible in cases where data
were in fact missing. In these cases, the totals may be underestimated.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 104%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">C. Population issues</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 104%;">Azerbaijan:
Education data do not cover the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, whereas UNPD data
do. Therefore the population data used for the calculation of indicators were
provided by national authorities and exclude Nagorno-Karabakh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 104%;"></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="page7"></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 102%;">Cyprus:
Enrolment data for Cyprus do not include schools that are not under government
control. The population data used for the calculation of indicators were
provided by the government of Cyprus and only cover the population living in
the government-controlled area.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 102%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.3pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">Republic
of Moldova: Enrolment data do not cover the region of Transnistria and
population data for this region were excluded when calculating population-based
indicators.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">Palestine:
Enrolment data do not include data for East Jerusalem, whereas the population
data do. Indicators are not internationally comparable and should be
interpreted with caution.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 104%;">Serbia:
Education data do not cover Kosovo, whereas the UN population division data do.
Therefore, the population data used for the calculation of indicators were
provided by Eurostat and exclude Kosovo.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 104%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 105%;">United
Republic of Tanzania: Enrolment data do not include Zanzibar, whereas the
population data do. The population of Zanzibar is approximately 3 per cent of
the total population of Tanzania. Indicators should thus be interpreted with
caution.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<![endif]-->Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-90363737131337515812015-02-01T09:17:00.000-08:002015-02-01T09:17:01.817-08:00SRI's Statistical Analysis<div class="region region-content-top">
<div class="block block-views first last odd" id="block-views-index-taxonomy-header-block-1">
<div class="content clearfix">
<div class="view view-index-taxonomy-header view-id-index_taxonomy_header view-display-id-block_1 term-header clearfix view-dom-id-a65b722424254bb2d96ef43ada36d33d">
<div class="view-content">
<div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last">
<div class="views-field-description-sri promo-no-image">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-content">
SRI's
Statistical Analysis Program supports projects in a wide variety of
subject areas, including biostatistics, economics, education, chemistry,
survey research, engineering, marketing, quality management,
environmental analysis and litigation. Statistical analysis services
include:<br />
<ul>
<li>
Formulating research questions so that they are amenable to statistical analysis<br />
</li>
<li>
Determining the data necessary to address those questions<br />
</li>
<li>
Estimating available precision and power<br />
</li>
<li>
Reliability analyses<br />
</li>
<li>
Selecting and weighting complex samples<br />
</li>
<li>
Randomization of subjects to treatments<br />
</li>
<li>
Database management<br />
</li>
<li>
Statistical analyses and documentation of outcomes<br />
</li>
<li>
Serving as expert witnesses in litigation<br />
</li>
</ul>
SRI also serves as the Data Coordinating Center for two clinical
projects: Prospective Assessment after Pediatric Cardiac Ablation
(PAPCA) and Centers for Heart Failure Arrhythmia Research and Therapy (<a class="outbound-link" href="http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/departments/medicine/divisions/cardiovascular/electrophysiology/research/index.html"><u>CHART</u></a>). SRI also provides statistical analysis assistance to the <a href="http://www.sri.com/work/projects/nbrcc">National Behavioral Research Coordination Center (NBRCC)</a>.<br />
<h2>
Statistical Analysis Services Clients</h2>
The Statistical Analysis Program has provided statistical analysis consulting services for a wide variety of clients, including:<br />
<ul>
<li>
<strong>U.S. government clients: </strong>Department of Education,
National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, Department
of Energy, Office of Naval Research, Department of Commerce, National
Institutes of Health, National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Army Medical Research and Development Command, U.S. Geological
Survey, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, and Department of
Transportation<br />
</li>
<li>
<strong>California government clients: </strong>Department of
Health Services, Office of the Attorney General, Public Utilities
Commission, Air Resources Board, Department of Education, First Five
Commission, and Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program<br />
</li>
<li>
<strong>Foundation and university clients:</strong> Stanford
University, Ohio State University, the Gates Foundation, Education
Leaders Council, Packard Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, University of
Southern California, Packard Foundation, and Western Consortium for
Public Health<br />
</li>
<li>
<strong>Industry clients: </strong><br />
<ul>
<li>
<em>P</em><em>harmaceuticals and devices: </em>Pfizer,
Wyeth-Ayerst, Astra/Merck, CV Therapeutics, Angiotech, Biogen Idec,
Tenet Healthcare, PhRMA, SmithKline Beecham, Berlex, Johnson &
Johnson, Ciba-Geigy, Medco, Merck, Eli Lilly, Humphrey Instruments,
Mallinckrodt Medical, Upjohn<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>F</em><em>ood:</em> Perseco, Pillsbury<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Travel</em>: Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, California State Automobile Association, Worldspan<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Electronics and software:</em> CustomerCast, Gartner Group, Fujitsu<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Education: </em>Scientific Learning, Delta Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Insurance</em>: New York Life<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Survey research: </em>Field Research<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Telecommunications: </em>AT&T, Pacific Bell, Verizon, Pacific Telecom Cable<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Automobiles:</em> General Motors<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Chemicals:</em> Berol-Kemi, Chemical Manufacturers Association, Monsanto, Dow<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Waste management</em>: Nor-Cal<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Securities:</em> Nikko, Reuters<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Transportation:</em> ASF Corporation, Greenbrier<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Banking:</em> VISA, Bank of America, Crocker Bank<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Energy:</em> Gas Research Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, Chevron<br />
</li>
<li>
<em>Legal</em>: more than a dozen law firms<br />
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-31258277636575655112015-02-01T09:14:00.000-08:002015-02-01T09:14:20.882-08:00Education Statistics- Australian<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.abs.gov.au/">Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)</a></h4>
The ABS aims to assist and encourage informed decision making,
research and discussion within governments and the community, by leading
a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service.
Education statistics include onshore international students studying in
Australia, but excludes offshore.<br />
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.austrade.gov.au/Education/Student-Data/2013">Australian Education International (AEI)</a></h4>
AEI releases monthly summaries that show year-to-date enrolments of
international students in Australia on a student visa. Summaries include
volume and growth rates for enrolments and commencements, as well as
analysis by sector and ‘top 5’ source markets.<br />
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.austrade.gov.au/Education/Services/Market-Information-Package">Market Information Package (MIP)</a></h4>
Austrade's Market Information Package (MIP) provides valuable and
timely market intelligence, analysis and opportunities to support
Australia’s international education and training sector. Enquiries about
the MIP should be directed to <a href="mailto:mip@austrade.gov.au">mip@austrade.gov.au</a>.<br />
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.highereducationstatistics.deewr.gov.au/">uCube – Higher education statistics</a></h4>
uCube is maintained by DIICCSRTE and is one of the best kept secrets
in higher education statistics. It allows users to generate custom
tables and export the data in Excel. Output is available for Enrolments
(with commencements able to be separated out), Student load, Completions
and Staff numbers. Under 'State - Institution', you can obtain data for
individual institutions, including institutions you might see as
competitors.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Global</h4>
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/global-education-digest.aspx">UNESCO Institute for Statistics – Global Education Digest</a></h4>
Each year the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes its
Global Education Digest presenting the latest education statistics
worldwide. The Digest offers particular value by presenting a wide range
of education statistics – from early childhood learning programmes to
adult literacy – and by highlighting a special theme, which is analysed
based on indicators drawn from the statistical tables of the report.
Free to download.<br />
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance_19991487">OECD – Education at a Glance</a></h4>
OECD's annual Education at a Glance looks at who participates in
education, what is spent on it, how education systems operate and the
results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of
outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas
to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of
employment. This book includes StatLinks, urls linking to Excel
spreadsheets containing the background data. Free to download.<br />
<h4>
<a class="external" href="http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/">International Institute of Education (IIE) – Open Doors</a></h4>
Open Doors is a comprehensive, national data and information resource
on US and international individuals studying or teaching in US and
abroad. You can browse the data from the past decade of Open Doors by
topic, using the expandable navigation menu in the box at the right of
the page. Note: Some data is password protected and requires a
subscription or IIE membership. Various reports are available for
purchase.Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-69452268315497436602015-02-01T08:42:00.003-08:002015-05-06T08:18:35.431-07:00Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<section class="main-content">
<section class="promo-text">The Times Higher Education
World Reputation Rankings 2014 employ the world's largest
invitation-only academic opinion survey to provide the definitive list
of the top 100 most powerful global university brands. A spin-off of the
annual <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013-14/world-ranking">Times Higher Education World University Rankings</a>,
the reputation league table is based on nothing more than subjective
judgement - but it is the considered expert judgement of senior,
published academics - the people best placed to know the most about
excellence in our universities.<br />
<b>Note: Universities that display a blue icon feature an enhanced </b><b>institutional profile, which can be viewed by clicking the institution's </b><b>name.</b><br />
</section> <section class="rankings-table-header reputation-ranking" id="rankings-table">
<h1>
World Reputation Rankings 2014</h1>
<table class="ranking main ind-OS reputation">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="rank sorted"><a class="asc" href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/range/01-50/order/rank%7Cdesc" title="Sort by rank">Rank</a>
</th>
<th class="uni"><a class="" href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/range/01-50/order/institution%7Casc" title="Sort by institution">Institution</a>
</th>
<th class="region"><a class="" href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/range/01-50/order/country%7Casc" title="Sort by location">Location</a>
</th>
<th class="ind OS"><a class="overall" href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/range/01-50/order/%7Casc" title="Sort by score">Overall score</a> </th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr id="rating-520">
<td class="rank"><b>1</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/harvard-university" title="Harvard University">Harvard University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 100%;">
100.0
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-521">
<td class="rank"><b>2</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/massachusetts-institute-of-technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)">Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 90.4%;">
90.4
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-522">
<td class="rank"><b>3</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/stanford-university" title="Stanford University">Stanford University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 74.9%;">
74.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-523">
<td class="rank"><b>4</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-cambridge" title="University of Cambridge">University of Cambridge</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 74.3%;">
74.3
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-524">
<td class="rank"><b>5</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-oxford" title="University of Oxford">University of Oxford</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 67.8%;">
67.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-525">
<td class="rank"><b>6</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-california-berkeley" title="University of California, Berkeley">University of California, Berkeley</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 63.1%;">
63.1
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-526">
<td class="rank"><b>7</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/princeton-university" title="Princeton University">Princeton University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 35.7%;">
35.7
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-527">
<td class="rank"><b>8</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/yale-university" title="Yale University">Yale University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="overall-score" style="width: 30.9%;">
30.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-528">
<td class="rank"><b>9</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/california-institute-of-technology" title="California Institute of Technology (Caltech)">California Institute of Technology (Caltech)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 29.2%;">
29.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-529">
<td class="rank"><b>10</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-california-los-angeles" title="University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)">University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 28.8%;">
28.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-530">
<td class="rank"><b>11</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-tokyo" title="The University of Tokyo">The University of Tokyo</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b"><img src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/v1.8.23/img/f/Icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Japan </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 27.7%;">
27.7
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-531">
<td class="rank"><b>12</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/columbia-university" title="Columbia University">Columbia University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 21.6%;">
21.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-532">
<td class="rank"><b>13</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/imperial-college-london" title="Imperial College London">Imperial College London</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 20.9%;">
20.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-533">
<td class="rank"><b>14</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 20.8%;">
20.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-534">
<td class="rank"><b>15</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-michigan" title="University of Michigan">University of Michigan</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 18.9%;">
18.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-535">
<td class="rank"><b>16</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/eth-zurich-swiss-federal-institute-of-technology-zurich" title="ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich">ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Switzerland </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 17.4%;">
17.4
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-536">
<td class="rank"><b>17</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/cornell-university" title="Cornell University">Cornell University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 16.9%;">
16.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-537">
<td class="rank"><b>18</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/johns-hopkins-university" title="Johns Hopkins University">Johns Hopkins University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 16.8%;">
16.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-538">
<td class="rank"><b>19</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/kyoto-university" title="Kyoto University">Kyoto University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Japan </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 15.1%;">
15.1
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-539">
<td class="rank"><b>20</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-toronto" title="University of Toronto">University of Toronto</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b"><img src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/v1.8.23/img/f/Icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Canada </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 14.9%;">
14.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-540">
<td class="rank"><b>21</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/national-university-of-singapore" title="National University of Singapore (NUS)">National University of Singapore (NUS)</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b"><img src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/v1.8.23/img/f/Icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Singapore </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 13.5%;">
13.5
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-541">
<td class="rank"><b>22</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-pennsylvania" title="University of Pennsylvania">University of Pennsylvania</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 12.8%;">
12.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-542">
<td class="rank"><b>23</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-illinois-at-urbana-champaign" title="University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign">University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 12.7%;">
12.7
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-543">
<td class="rank"><b>24</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science" title="London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)">London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 11.8%;">
11.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-544">
<td class="rank"><b>25</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-college-london" title="University College London (UCL)">University College London (UCL)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 11.5%;">
11.5
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-545">
<td class="rank"><b>26</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/seoul-national-university" title="Seoul National University">Seoul National University</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b"><img src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/v1.8.23/img/f/Icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Republic of Korea </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 10.9%;">
10.9
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-546">
<td class="rank"><b>27</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/new-york-university" title="New York University (NYU)">New York University (NYU)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 10.3%;">
10.3
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-547">
<td class="rank"><b>28</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-wisconsin-madison" title="University of Wisconsin-Madison">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 10.2%;">
10.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-548">
<td class="rank"><b>29</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/carnegie-mellon-university" title="Carnegie Mellon University">Carnegie Mellon University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 9.6%;">
9.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-549">
<td class="rank"><b>30</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/duke-university" title="Duke University">Duke University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 9.4%;">
9.4
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-550">
<td class="rank"><b>31</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-washington" title="University of Washington">University of Washington</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 9%;">
9.0
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-551">
<td class="rank"><b>32</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-california-san-francisco" title="University of California, San Francisco">University of California, San Francisco</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.7%;">
8.7
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-552">
<td class="rank"><b>33</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-british-columbia" title="University of British Columbia">University of British Columbia</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b"><img src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/v1.8.23/img/f/Icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Canada </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.6%;">
8.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-553">
<td class="rank"><b>33</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/mcgill-university" title="McGill University">McGill University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Canada </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.6%;">
8.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-554">
<td class="rank"><b>33</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-texas-at-austin" title="University of Texas at Austin">University of Texas at Austin</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.6%;">
8.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-555">
<td class="rank"><b>36</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/tsinghua-university" title="Tsinghua University">Tsinghua University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">China </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.4%;">
8.4
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-556">
<td class="rank"><b>37</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/northwestern-university" title="Northwestern University">Northwestern University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 8.3%;">
8.3
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-557">
<td class="rank"><b>38</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/georgia-institute-of-technology" title="Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)">Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 7.6%;">
7.6
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-558">
<td class="rank"><b>39</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/pennsylvania-state-university" title="Pennsylvania State University">Pennsylvania State University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 7.5%;">
7.5
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-559">
<td class="rank"><b>40</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-california-san-diego" title="University of California, San Diego">University of California, San Diego</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 7.2%;">
7.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-560">
<td class="rank"><b>41</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/peking-university" title="Peking University">Peking University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">China </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 7%;">
7.0
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-561">
<td class="rank"><b>42</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/delft-university-of-technology" title="Delft University of Technology">Delft University of Technology</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Netherlands </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.3%;">
6.3
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-562">
<td class="rank"><b>43</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="uni-a"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-hong-kong" title="The University of Hong Kong">The University of Hong Kong</a>
</td>
<td class="uni-b">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Hong Kong </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.2%;">
6.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-563">
<td class="rank"><b>43</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/kings-college-london" title="King's College London">King's College London</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.2%;">
6.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-564">
<td class="rank"><b>43</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-melbourne" title="University of Melbourne">University of Melbourne</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Australia </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.2%;">
6.2
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-565">
<td class="rank"><b>46</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/university-of-edinburgh" title="University of Edinburgh">University of Edinburgh</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United Kingdom </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.1%;">
6.1
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-566">
<td class="rank"><b>46</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/ludwig-maximilians-universitat-munchen" title="Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München">Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Germany </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6.1%;">
6.1
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-567">
<td class="rank"><b>48</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/purdue-university" title="Purdue University">Purdue University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">United States </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 6%;">
6.0
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-568">
<td class="rank"><b>49</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/ecole-polytechnique-federale-de-lausanne" title="École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne">École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Switzerland </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 5.8%;">
5.8
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="rating-569">
<td class="rank"><b>50</b>
</td>
<td class="uni"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/reputation-ranking/institution/osaka-university" title="Osaka University">Osaka University</a>
</td>
<td class="region-title">Japan </td>
<td class="ind OS"><div class="score-container">
<div class="small-score" style="width: 5.7%;">
5.7
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</section>
<section class="text"><h3>
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=2011725">Claim your free copy of the <i>Times Higher Education</i> World Reputation Rankings 2014 supplement</a></h3>
<h3>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://worldinsuranceinfo.com/category/accident-sickness-and-unemployment-insurance/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Accident, sickness,
and unemployment insurance</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://worldinsuranceinfo.com/category/life-insurance/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Life insurance</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
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</span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://worldinsuranceinfo.com/category/travel-insurance/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Travel Insurance</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
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</ul>
</h3>
</section>
</section></div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-7883574166818679512015-02-01T08:38:00.000-08:002015-02-01T08:38:02.188-08:00World All University Rankings 2014-2015 analysisThe publication of the <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking">Times Higher Education World University Rankings</a>
has become one of the key annual events in the international higher
education calendar and these global university league tables are
recognised as the world's most authoritative source of broad comparative
performance information on universities.<br />
Below, Times Higher Education offers unparalleled analysis
of the World University Rankings 2014-2015 results and contextualises
those results in light of the rapidly globalising higher education
sector.<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/collaborate-and-listen"><strong>Collaborate and listen</strong></a><br />The
World University Rankings are competitive, of course, but they also
promote the partnerships vital to a vibrant global academy, says editor,
Times Higher Education Rankings, Phil Baty<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/tectonic-shifts-point-to-asia-taking-on-the-mantle"><strong>Tectonic shifts point to Asia taking on the mantle</strong></a><br />The World University Rankings 2014-2015 continue the trends of US decline and Asian ascent, writes Phil Baty<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/time-will-tell-bigger-picture-reveals-underlying-movement"><strong>Time will tell: bigger picture reveals underlying movement</strong></a><br />A snapshot view of four years of change<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/brics-mortar-boards-and-mixed-fortunes"><strong>BRICs, mortar boards and mixed fortunes</strong></a><br />The large developing nations are making patchy progress in the rankings: will Putin’s ambitions be realised? Phil Baty reports<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/averages-dispersion-and-global-variation"><strong>Averages, dispersion and global variation</strong></a><br />How
far have national systems gained or slipped since 2013-14? What are the
vital statistics of the typical top 400 institution? Dominance of US
institutions in the top 400 is evident, although numbers are falling,
whereas other regions, particularly Asia-Pacific, are rising strongly<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/berkeleys-forecast-sunshine-after-the-storm"><strong>Berkeley’s forecast: sunshine after the storm</strong></a><br />UC’s
finest has emerged from the financial crisis stronger than ever, argues
Nicholas B. Dirks, chancellor, University of California, Berkeley<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/fusion-reaction"><strong>Fusion reaction</strong></a><br />Tsinghua
revels in its structural role on the global stage: forging connections
between East and West, writes its president Chen Jining<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/hybrid-vigour-the-sum-is-greater-than-the-parts"><strong>Hybrid vigour: the sum is greater than the parts</strong></a><br />Competition
and collaboration; home and abroad; public and private. Put them
together and what have you got? The future, argues Alice Gast,
president, Imperial College London<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/broad-range"><strong>Broad range</strong></a><br />At
the heart of the Andes, one of Colombia’s top universities is striving
for regional and global impact, explains Pablo Navas Sanz de Santamaría,
rector, University of the Andes<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/tapping-new-seams"><strong>Tapping new seams</strong></a><br />As
the state disinvests, Queensland is securing the future of its student
experience and research by diversifying its income streams, writes its
vice-chancellor Peter Høj<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/were-taking-a-long-hard-look-at-ourselves"><strong>We’re taking a long, hard look at ourselves</strong></a><br />Germany is on a mission to punch its weight in the rankings, says Hans Müller-Steinhagen, rector, Technische Universität Dresden<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/drilling-down-into-a-rich-landscape-of-data"><strong>Drilling down into a rich landscape of data</strong></a><br />Phil Baty explains how to use the league tables to extract information specific to your requirements<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/a-very-particular-set-of-skills"><strong>A very particular set of skills</strong></a><br />Phil Baty discovers which institutions excel in which subject areas and finds that the US/UK domination continues<br />
<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/world-ranking/analysis/an-assessment-tool-to-be-used-with-care"><strong>An assessment tool to be used with care</strong></a><br />Rankings are widely used and critiqued, says Ellen Hazelkorn, but they create a profile institutions wantKhondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-66887400201600991212015-02-01T08:34:00.002-08:002015-02-01T08:34:36.042-08:00Institute on Statistical Analysis: Causal Analysis Using International Data<div style="font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">
AERA Institute on Statistical Analysis for Education Policy: <br />
<em>Causal Analysis Using International Data</em></div>
<div style="font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">
Call for Applications</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="font-weight: bold;">Dates of Institute: May 19 - 22, 2015<br />
</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="font-weight: bold;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">The application deadline for the 2015 AERA Institute on Statistical Analysis for Education Policy: Causal Analysis Using International Data is Tuesday, February 17, 2015.<br />
</strong></strong></div>
<span>With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grants Program
announces a special AERA Institute on Statistical Analysis for Education
Policy focused on causal analysis<strong> </strong>using data from two
international datasets, Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The Institute’s goal is to build the capacity of the U.S. education
research community to use large-scale national and international data
sets such as those from the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES), NSF, and other federal agencies for basic, policy, and applied
research. The 2015 Institute will be conducted jointly with an
international of group scholars who are using these data sets.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span>Description<br />
</span></strong>Causal inference has become a central issue in education
research. This includes inferring causality from the design of true
randomized experiments, as well as how such inference can be approached
in quasi-experimental, non-randomized studies. The focus of the 2015
Institute will be on these issues and the methodologies available to
support causal inferences using data from TIMSS and PISA. The Institute
will cover several approaches and methodologies for estimating causal
inferences using TIMSS and PISA. Such methodologies include propensity
scores, path analysis, and structural equation models. During the
Institute examples will be provided in addition to working sessions in
which participants will gain experience with implementing selected
methods with the international data.<br />
<strong><br />
Eligibility and Review Criteria<br />
</strong>Advanced doctoral students and recent doctorates are especially
encouraged to apply. Applicants must have completed at least one year
of statistics courses at the doctoral level and have familiarity with
multiple regression methods. Review criteria include: the applicant’s
statistical background to at least the intermediate level of multiple
regression, computer literacy with knowledge of at least one statistical
software package; experience in using a large-scale data set;
substantive policy or practice interest in international data; and the
Institute’s fit with the applicant’s career goals. Applications from
historically underrepresented minority scholars are also strongly
encouraged. Applicants may be U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents,
or non-U.S. citizens working or studying at a U.S. institution.<br />
<strong><br />
Participant Support<br />
</strong>A select group of scholars will be chosen to participate in the
Institute. Those selected for participation will receive support
covering the Institute's fees, transportation, housing, and meals for
the dates of the Institute. Participants must bring their own computer
loaded with the statistical software of their choice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<strong>Dates and Location</strong>
</div>
<div>
<span>May 19-22, 2015, in Washington, DC<br />
</span><strong><br />
Institute Director<br />
</strong><a href="http://education.msu.edu/search/formview.aspx?email=bschmidt@msu.edu" target="_blank">William Schmidt</a><span style="color: black;">, Michigan State University</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0.1pt 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: black;">Application Requirements</span></strong><br />
All applications should include: </div>
<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc; margin-top: 0in;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-top: 0.1pt;">
<em><span>Background Information</span></em>, entered via <a href="http://www.logiforms.com/formdata/user_forms/7993_9562493/95714/" target="_blank">the online submission tool</a><a href="http://www.logiforms.com/formdata/user_forms/7993_9562493/95714/"><span></span></a>,
including contact information for three (3) references familiar with
the applicant’s work. No letters of recommendation are required for this
application, although references may be contacted during the review
process. <br />
</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-top: 0.1pt;">
<em><span>Statement of Interest</span></em> in PDF (maximum two
pages single-spaced), describing the applicant's background, career
goals, and how the applicant would benefit from the Institute. <br />
</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-top: 0.1pt;">
<em><span>Summarized Curriculum Vita </span></em>in PDF (maximum
one page), listing education, research, and employment history, relevant
graduate courses, and publications that are relevant to the Institute.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span>Submit the </span><em>Statement of Interest </em><span>and the </span><em>Summarized Curriculum Vita</em><span> in one PDF document and upload to the submission system by the deadline.</span>
<div style="margin: 0.1pt 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<strong>Application Submission<br />
</strong>The deadline for applications is 11:59 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, February 17, 2015. Applications must be <a href="http://www.logiforms.com/formdata/user_forms/7993_9562493/95714/" target="_blank">submitted electronically to AERA via the online submission tool</a>.
Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Applicants will be
informed of decisions in March 2015. If you have any questions, please
contact the AERA Grants Program at <a href="mailto:grantsprogram@aera.net">grantsprogram@aera.net</a> or <span class="skype_c2c_container notranslate" data-isfreecall="false" data-ismobile="false" data-isrtl="false" data-numbertocall="+12022383226" dir="ltr" id="skype_c2c_container" tabindex="-1"><span class="skype_c2c_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr"><span class="skype_c2c_textarea_span" id="non_free_num_ui"><img class="skype_c2c_logo_img" height="0" src="resource://skype_ff_extension-at-jetpack/skype_ff_extension/data/call_skype_logo.png" width="0" /><span class="skype_c2c_text_span">202-238-3226</span><span class="skype_c2c_free_text_span"></span></span></span></span>.Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-35794468153106369122015-02-01T08:28:00.000-08:002015-02-01T08:28:07.270-08:00International Comparative Education (ICE) / International Education Policy Analysis<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-item even">
<h2>
Program Requirements</h2>
Students must take 48 units at Stanford to receive a Master's degree
in ICE or IEPA. The following constraints are placed on those 48 units:<br />
<ul>
<li>All courses must be at or above the 100 level – courses numbered below 100 do not count.</li>
<li>24 units—or half of the total minimum units—must be at or above the 200 level (EDUC 180 or 190 count toward this requirement).</li>
<li>At least 27 units must be from courses offered by the Graduate School of Education (EDUC units).</li>
<li>16 units (one-third of the total minimum units) must be for a letter grade.</li>
<li>A 3.0 GPA must be maintained for all courses applied to the master's degree.</li>
<li>All students must enroll in a minimum of 8 units during Autumn,
Winter, and Spring and cannot exceed 18 units in any quarter. ICE/IEPA
students must choose one of the following unit plans. Combinations,
alterations, or exceptions to these unit plans are not allowable.
<ul>
<li>Enroll in at least 11 units Autumn and Winter quarter, at least 8 units Spring quarter and exactly 6 units in Summer quarter OR</li>
<li>Enroll in at least 11 units Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarter and at least 3 units in Summer quarter</li>
</ul>
Note: Students must enroll in at least 6 units during all quarters
(including Summer) in which they wish to maintain eligibility to receive
financial aid (such as loans). </li>
<li>See "<a href="https://ed.stanford.edu/academics/masters-handbook/ma-programs#conterminal">Coterminal Degree</a>” section for unit requirements applying to students admitted through the coterminal degree program.</li>
<li>English for Foreign Students (Linguistics 600 level) and Athletics,
Physical Education and Recreation (ATHLETIC) courses cannot be applied
towards the master's degree.</li>
<li>* Effective 1 September 2014, IEAPA (International Educational
Administration and Policy Analysis) will become IEPA (International
Education Policy Analysis). Students beginning the program in AY 2014-15
may choose to pursue this subplan under either name.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Required Courses</h2>
Note: All course information is subject to change.<br />
Please consult ExploreCourses and Axess for final course offerings.<br />
<table border="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EDUC 202</td>
<td width="60%"><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+202&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 202">Introduction to Comparative and International Education<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 206A</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+206A&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 206A">Applied Research Methods in ICE I: Introduction<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 206B</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+206b&collapse=" target="_blank">Applied Research Methods in ICE II: Master's Paper Proposal<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 206C</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+206C&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 206C">Applied Research Methods in ICE III: Data Collection and Analysis<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 206D</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+206d&collapse=" target="_blank">Applied Research Methods in ICE IV: Master's Paper Workshop<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
Additional Requirements for IEPA:<br />
<table border="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EDUC 202I</td>
<td width="60%"><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+202i&collapse=" target="_blank">International Education Policy Workshop<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>
306 Series: ICE enroll in two; IEPA enroll in all three</h3>
<table border="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EDUC 306A</td>
<td width="60%"><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+306A&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 306A">Economics of Education in the Global Economy<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 306B</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+306b&collapse=" target="_blank">The Politics of International Cooperation in Education<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>EDUC 306D</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+306D&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 306D">World, Societal, and Educational Change: Comparative Perspectives<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>
Research Methods: Choose one from the following</h3>
<table border="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EDUC 200A</td>
<td width="60%"><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+200A&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 200A">Introduction to Data Analysis and Interpretation<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 200B †</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+200B&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 200B">Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 291X*</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EDUC+291X&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EDUC 291X">Introduction to Survey Research<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Students are encouraged to take both EDUC 200A & EDUC 200B. Those
who plan to conduct quantitative data analyses are highly encouraged to
take a statistical analysis software mini course (e.g., SPSS or Stata).<br />
All students who plan to collect their own data for their MA papers
must enroll in EDUC 206B for 3 units and take no more than three
additional courses that quarter. In Spring quarter, they must enroll in a
Directed Reading or Directed Research with their advisor, which will
count as one of their main courses.<br />
<br />
† In Autumn quarter, ICE/IEPA students have third enrollment priority
for EDUC 200B. In Winter quarter, ICE/IEPA students have first
enrollment priority in EDUC 200B.<br />
* Required of students who plan to collect their own quantitative
data using survey methods (interviews, questionnaires) for their MA
Papers.<br />
<h3>
English for Foreign Students (Recommended)</h3>
Non-fluent speakers of English are strongly encouraged to take one of the following writing courses:<br />
<table border="0" style="height: 69px; width: 898px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EFSLANG 698A</td>
<td width="59%"><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EFSLANG+698A+Writing+Academic+English&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EFSLANG 698A">Writing Academic English<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EFSLANG 698B</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=EFSLANG+698B+Advanced+Graduate+Writing&collapse=" target="_blank" title="EFSLANG 698B">Advanced Graduate Writing<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>
Additional ICE-Related Courses Offered in the GSE (Recommended)</h3>
<table border="0" style="height: 69px; width: 898px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="18%">EDUC 197/FEMGEN 297</td>
<td width="59%"><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?page=0&q=educ+197&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&view=catalog&collapse=&academicYear=20142015" target="_blank">Education, Gender, and Development<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 306Y</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+306y&collapse=" target="_blank">Economic Support Seminar for Education and Economic Development<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EDUC 404X</td>
<td><a class="ext" href="http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&academicYear=20142015&q=educ+404x&collapse=" target="_blank">Topics in Brazilian Education: Public Policy and Innovation for the 21st Century<span class="ext"><span class="element-invisible"> (link is external)</span></span></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>
Project: MA Paper</h3>
Students in the program are required to take the EDUC 206 course
series in order to complete their MA paper requirement. By enrolling
in EDUC 206A,B,C and D, students are advised through the entire process
of developing their projects up to completion of their papers at the end
of Summer Quarter.<br />
</div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-37791815131536246812015-01-07T09:01:00.001-08:002015-01-07T09:04:22.946-08:00Presentations of Web-Based Assessment of Student Learning Applications <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">To coordinate and institutionalize student learning assessment efforts </span><span style="color: black; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="q">through the integration and implementation </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">of the Evaluation of the Student Learning Plan of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">To provide support services to coordinators of the assessment program about the selection of </span><span style="color: black; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="q">suitable quantitative and qualitative instruments </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">and the disclosure of assessment results within the campus.</span>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="2014623038707244469"></a>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
Presentations of Web-Based Assessment of Student Learning Applications
</h3>
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</div>
The OEAE is always striving to help professors in the analysis of
student learning assessment data. In collaboration with Dr. Carlos
Corrada of the Computer Science program the idea of creating a web-based
application for analyzing assessment data came about.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the 2012-2013 second semester the OEAE was
established as the client for which two groups of students of the <i>Development of Web-Based Applications</i> (MATE
4996) course had to develop the tailor-made application. The OEAE
needed an application with a user-friendly interface to input and
analyze data in order to streamline the process of assessment of student
learning.<br />
<br />
On May 14 the students form the <i>Development of Web-Based Applications</i> (MATE
4996) course presented their applications for the assessment of student
learning to the OEAE staff and the assessment coordinators from various
Colleges of the campus.<br />
<br />
The following are screenshots of the home screen of both applications:<br />
<br />
Group 1:<br />
<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfWIRCD8LNetaUzdOkgEbEVJHf44sMJSCI5EdxMgZiezlEQzr2GDpP2CJj98qv2Qn-fGxS9Hsf2vED9KBw9y2jDyf4zZiLedStzGnEGRf_M3Q8hTA7AWM2gi_pbJsaL6XP-bhWxaMoXYw/s400/Grupo+1+CCOM.jpg" height="252" width="400" /></div>
<br />
<br />
Group 2:<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmBVOhOSDGbo95IvnNSBtfl5aP1ehp97hfGMJpha5POid99yaBNbVnnYciK-vE3EDYF6qHtevhdCe_mABynN01PF6ofve9OEUkXV2WebcSe5BzXUzXvH5mdI05L-6RtXXrIsmwnJZZe0/s400/Grupo+2.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></div>
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<br />
During the first semester of the 2013-2014 academic year some professors
have volunteered to use the application as part of their courses. Once
their recommendations have been submitted and discussed, we expect to
update some features after the end of this trial period. If
institutional support is provided, the use of the application will be
expanded to more users across our campus.<br />
<br />
We couldn't be happier with the work that the students did. We are
confident that this initiative will help professors to analyze student
learning assessment data, thus aiding the OEAE to have a real-time
snapshot of the achievement of institutional student-centered learning
outcomes.</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-14903406680257396882015-01-07T08:51:00.003-08:002015-01-07T08:51:43.043-08:00Google Add-on Tidbits <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="" class="CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiPEfNPHCsmLnMLT499Vkqa7H6vhfGN1RXwSBe87-1tAiQETpjSTLRv34n6MVrJHl8acp8v78XgzkzG0AUty9r1vwIkZA42CZ1lB4WcvI9Was4y0pzh2nOWuMog6mCRED4FySdCoKtQuNaNeEn_AeM7QX25CVxHhtuVY90rqKJJf7ScgTcfIIGKGF4BBYFxeGAaBSeXJ6TT9Q=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border: 0px none; max-width: 792px; outline: medium none; vertical-align: bottom;" width="325" /></div>
There is an easy to use security checkup allows you to see what devices
have been logged in using your account as well as what applications are
using your account credentials. Follow the step by step instructions and
see if your account is as secure as you think it is. This is a great
new tool to check all your Google email accounts. <a href="http://www.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1e57f1e17bbbbed05f0568b0e&id=69b149aa21&e=130d3d8b9c" style="color: #6dc6dd; line-height: 20.7999992370605px; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">https://security.google.com/<wbr></wbr>settings/security/<wbr></wbr>secureaccount</a><br />
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" class="CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhCKt-qBTXQY842Dt5DLuFr5I5-v7t4aXHjhyphenhyphenLuduDBMBWupEwt6Qa_P_YskzAl6_PWHYSoAIa0XTeGgK0KKtBp5Be8R352g9Ulu8kUFGtH_rOFfJpuoxH_VPKFuEuktSyteS30RBDK3C20mYKzkUtGGpeFlMUY4jNje3yTMupsdkECDPPini7jq-oukp64Rkg9dtsk4A=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border: 0px none; max-width: 320px; outline: medium none; vertical-align: bottom;" width="320" /> Ever
wanted to mail merge from a spreadsheet in Google Sheets? How about
sending an email based on Google Form responses? If so, this Google
Drive Add-on is for you! <br />
<br />
FormMule is one way to perform unique mail merges from your
spreadsheets. With the ability to set up 15 different email templates.
Check out the link to video showing how it works. <a href="http://youtu.be/KhxmvoBUC68" target="_blank"> http://youtu.be/KhxmvoBUC68</a>.<br />
<br />
If you already make heavy use of <u>Google Translate</u>, this add-on
can save a lot of time. Instead of having to open Google Translate in a
new browser window, you can just highlight some text and translate it
from inside the document. On the downside, the add-on currently
supports only five languages—English, French, German, Japanese, and
Spanish. You can find the source code here: <a href="https://developers.google.com/apps-script/quickstart/docs">https://developers.google.com/apps-script/quickstart/docs</a>.<br />
<br />
Need to print out form letters with people’s names and other personalized details? Check out <u>DocumentMerge</u>,
which lets you generate multiple Google Docs based on personal information in a
corresponding Google Sheet. This add-on
includes a helpful wizard to guide you through the process.<br />
<br />
Do not like FormMule than try <u>Yet Another Mail Merge. </u>Much like DocumentMerge, it lets you generate form letters from a spreadsheet. But while
DocumentMerge is for printing, Yet Another Mail Merge is for emailing.
After you have created a message in Gmail and inserted some syntax, use
the add-on in Google Sheets to select the message and mail it out. The
add-on itself isn’t intuitive, but the store listing has a
straightforward walkthrough. Yet Another Mail Merge lets you send up to 99
messages per day for free, which should be just fine for personal use.<br />
<br />
<u>AbleBits Suite</u>, which is actually five separate add-ons, but together they give you more editing power. <u>Remove Duplicates</u> scans and highlights duplicate cells and provides an option to remove them. <u>Advanced Find & Replace</u> lets you search across spreadsheets and much more. <u>Split Names</u> separates values in a single cell into individual cells, and <u>Merge Values</u> combines multiple cell values into one cell. Find <u>Fuzzy Matches</u> looks for spelling variations on a given word search.<br />
<br />
<u>Mapping Sheets</u>
takes a list of addresses and plots them onto a Google Map. You can
filter the map data by category, as specified on the spreadsheet. It may
not seem like a useful tool, but all kinds of potential uses
come to mind, from allowing online students a visualization as to where
their classmates are located, to all the places one might want to visit.<br />
<br />
If you have your students use Google for papers, you will for sure want
to have them add-on EasyBib. MLA, APA and Chicago Style are available.
This add-on allows you to insert citations directly into Google
Documents directly within the Document.<br />
<br />
If your up on educational technology, I am sure you have heard about
mind mapping and the importance of visualization to some learners. <u>Mindmeister</u>
lets you take bulleted lists and convert it into a mindmap for a
graphical depiction. This would be a fascinating way to convert a table
of contents or outline for a paper into something easier to read. I’d
really like it to go the other way and let students create a mind map
and convert to a traditional outline, it is a very cool tool that will
be useful for education. The Mindmeister Google Drive add-on gives a
powerful punch to organizing your writing.<br />
<br />
Like how Microsoft provides a Table of Content tool in Microsoft
Word? The good news is Google Drive can also insert a Table of Contents
inside the document. The <u>Table of Contents </u>add-on puts it in the
sidebar. You can use it in Google Docs to create the scripts and plans
for an online presentation and the table of contents side bar will make
the document much easier to navigate.Remember just like in Microsoft
Word, for it to work, you have to make things as Heading 1, Heading 2,
etc.<br />
<br />
If you have dyslexia like I do or just are a bad proof reader, you may want to check out the <u>Consistency Checker</u> add-on.
This one is very useful for those long documents or other documents
that have to be consistent. This add-on provides an extra check for
spelling and also looks to make sure numbers were handled properly,
hyphenation and other types of writing mechanics were used in a
consistent way. For college students writing project documents together,
this is a great tool.<br />
<br />
Do you use <a href="http://www.storify.com/" target="_blank">Storify</a>? If so the <u>Twetter Curator</u>
Google Doc add-on could be a way to pull in tweets from your class
Twitter account or another source as you annotate and discuss them. The
purpose of <a href="http://www.kaizena.com/" target="_blank">Kaizena </a>is
to help teachers give better feedback to students. The teacher just pulls the
document into <u>Kaizena</u> with one click and easily add
voice comments and thoughts on student work.<br />
<br />
So you want to include clip art and not have to worry so much about legal usage issues? The <u>Open Clip Art </u>add-on has 50,000 thousand pieces of clip art. It is nice that these graphics include icons so it is easier to
navigate to other sites by making buttons. Music teachers will want to check out <u>Vextab Music Notation</u>.<br />
Just like Microsoft Office, you can use Google to create relaxing Sudoku. The Google Sheets add-on <u>Sudoku Puzzle</u>
can generate puzzles at four difficulty levels and helps you create
your own. You can also check your answers from within the sheet or
insert the solution in a separate grid.<br />
<br />
If you know of a great Google add-on that is free and please share it with me.</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-63094413801017510912015-01-07T08:47:00.002-08:002015-01-07T08:47:28.012-08:00Should big data analytics be used in conjunction with opinion surveys in Education?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>In a world filled with data and most companies starting to realize the
possibilities of what can be done with big data analytics. Why is higher
education and others still solely making decisions on "client opinion
surveys"? Why not at least support client survey results with big data
analytics?</b><br />
<br />
Webopedia defines big data analytics as "the process of collecting,
organizing and analyzing large sets of data ("big data") to discover
patterns and other useful information. Not only will big data analytics
help you to understand the information contained within the data, but it
will also help identify the data that is most important to the business
and future business decisions." According to the SAS Institute Inc "big
data analytics is the process of examining big data to uncover hidden
patterns, unknown correlations and other useful information that can be
used to make better decisions. With big data analytics, data scientists
and others can analyze huge volumes of data that conventional analytics
and business intelligence solutions can't touch". According to Margaret
Rouse (2012) big data can show true "customer preferences" and that one
of the goals to using big data is " to help companies make more informed
business decisions". TerraData states that when big data is done
correctly "it is the coming together of business and IT to produce
results that differentiate, that power you forward and reduce costs. Big
Data is less about the size of the data and more about the ability to
handle lots of different data types and the application of powerful
analytics techniques" (2014). This means "smarter decisions cut costs,
improve productivity, enhance customer experience and provide any
organization with a competitive advantage" (TerraData).<br />
<br />
So why isn't everyone using big data? Rouse (2012) suggest that it is
besause they have "a lack of internal analytics skills and the high cost
of hiring experienced analytics professionals" who know tools
like Hadoop, Pig, Spark, MapReduce, Hive and YARN. ThoughtWorks Inc.
point out that companies need to shift their thinking from the actual
data to insight and impact thinking and trying to address unanswered
questions. Schmarzo acknowledges that educational institutions are
interested in using big data for showing ways to "improve student
performance and raise teacher/professor effectiveness, while reducing
administrative workload" and to compare one institution to another, but
no mention of us on the business side of the house or to learn current
LMS usage to compare against a possible replacement. van Rijmenam's
infographic shows the benefits on learning, but still no mention of
using it for software changes. Fleisher, explains that some institutions
are not using it because they have a concern that acknowledging that
they recording all learning activities and releasing results may harm
students if this data got into the wrong hands. Guthrie points out that
big data in respect to education needs to go"beyond online learning,
administrators" need to "understand that big data can be used in
admissions, budgeting and student services to ensure transparency,
better distribution of resources and identification of at-risk
students." (2013). Perhaps one could classify technology application
purchases as a student service, but I do not think that is what Guthrie
is referring to.<br />
<br />
Coursera was the one place that mentions the use of big data in
education for more than learning. Their course description says includes
the statement: "to drive intervention and improvement in educational
software and systems". So way aren't leaders doing software comparison,
including LMS reviews required to learn big data techniques? I think it
is because the top academic administrators are afraid they would find
out that some of their decisions based solely on "pilot survey results"
were made based on inaccurate data.<br />
<br />
For example, Lets assume a institution was currently trying to decide
between two LMSs, "The pilot consisted of 11 courses and 162 students.
With 39 students, 5 faculty and 1 TA responding to a survey, when asked
whether LMS2 or LMS1 was better for teaching and learning the results
were":<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="width: 109px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">LMS2 </span></span></td><td style="width: 66px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">30/45</span></span></td><td style="width: 54px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">67%</span></span></td><td style="width: 126px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">(Faculty only 5/7)</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="width: 109px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">LMS1 </span></span></td><td style="width: 66px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">4/45</span></span></td><td style="width: 54px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">9%</span></span></td><td style="width: 126px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">(Faculty only 0/7)</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="width: 109px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">Same </span></span></td><td style="width: 66px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">5/45</span></span></td><td style="width: 54px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">11%</span></span></td><td style="width: 126px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">(Faculty only 1/7)</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="height: 19px; width: 109px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">n/a - unsure </span></span></td><td style="height: 19px; width: 66px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">6/45</span></span></td><td style="height: 19px; width: 54px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">13%</span></span></td><td style="height: 19px; width: 126px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,verdana,segoe,sans-serif;">(TA only 1/7)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Additional Notes: that there were only ll courses for this single
semester to use LMS2, out of a total of 2,094 courses. Only 162 students
were included in the LMS2 test, out of the total 3,991 students
enrolled and only 5 faculty and 1 TA was included in respect to the 780+
faculty on payroll.<br />
<br />
At first glance, the 67% sticks out and some may say that is a strong
indicator that an institution needs to switch to LMS2 because only 33%
wanted to stay with LMS1 or were not sure LMS2 had an increase benefit
to change. But that 67% is a percentage based on those that responded to
a survey not the number that want to switch. The table says out of "7"
faculty yet in the text the person stated that only 5 faculty and 1 TA
responded, and the last I check 5+1 is 6 not 7. If you take the total
number of participants compared to the number of surveys completed, the
67% is really only based on approximately 27% of those who participated
in the pilot. The student population is only represented by ~0.04% and
the faculty population by ~0.007%. What about Staff or business
entities that use LMS1, they were not represented at all in these
results. Other questions that come to mind and decision makers should be
asking are: (1) did the faculty who's courses were included actively
uses LMS1 to the fullest?, (2) Were the faculty included tech savvy?,
(3) Did the included faculty have a personal issue with LMS1?, (4) What
actual course included? Were they freshman courses or senior level
courses?, (5) what is more important ease of use for faculty or better
learning engagement options for students?, (6) Had participants been
properly shown how to use LMS1 as they were LMS2?, and (7) What were the
features of LMS2 used compared to the used features of LMS1?<br />
<br />
I this basic example shows that survey results alone allow for skewed
reporting, but add big data analytics to opinion surveys and education
decision makers would have a more realistic picture and better decisions
for most important stake holder, the student. Garber provides other
examples how people are spinning survey results to get their way. In his
examples he talks about how some people cherry-picked a statistic
describing just a small percentage of a population to make things look
better than they are and decision makers need to ask "What did the rest
think?" (Garber). In a 2012 paper talk about the need to develop an
approach to detect research interviewer falsification of survey data.
But that the detection approach was not limited to interviewers and
could be applied to basic survey analyst. Robert Oak points out that
falsification of figures is more common place in his article about the
New York Post claim of falsified unemployment figures. Johnson, Parker,
& Clements stated in their research "Likewise, satisfaction that
little or no data falsification has been detected previously should not
serve as an excuse for failure to continually apply careful quality
control standards to all survey operations" (2001). Fanelli's 2009
research showed that "scientists admitted to have fabricated, falsified
or modified data or results at least once –a serious form of misconduct
by any standard– and up to 33.7% admitted other questionable research
practices. In surveys asking about the behavior of colleagues, admission
rates were 14.12% (N = 12, 95% CI: 9.91–19.72) for falsification, and
up to 72% for other questionable research practices" which would make
one think that there is a prevalence of researcher misconduct or did
Fanelli mislead us with these results?<br />
<br />
Schmarzo states "In a world where education holds the greatest potential
to drive quality-of-life improvements, there are countless
opportunities for educational institutions to collaborate and raise the
fortunes of students, teachers, and society as a whole" (2014) by using
big data along with old fashion surveys. The benefits of big data can be
felt by all organizations.<br />
<br />
<br />
Resources:<br />
<ul>
<li>Crudele, John. 2013. <a href="http://nypost.com/2013/11/18/census-faked-2012-election-jobs-report/" target="_blank">Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report</a></li>
<li>Coursera, 2013. Big Data in Education. Retrieved on 12/3/2014 from <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/bigdata-edu" target="_blank"> https://www.coursera.org/course/bigdata-edu</a>.</li>
<li>Fleisher, Lisa. 2014. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579451241225610478" target="_blank">Big Data Enters the Classroom</a>.</li>
<li>Garber, Richard. 2014. <a href="http://joyfulpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/2014/09/how-to-spin-results-from-survey.html" target="_blank">How to spin the results of a survey</a>. </li>
<li>Guthrie, Doug, 2013. <a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/08/15/why-big-data-not-moocs-will-revolutionize-education" target="_blank">The Coming Big Data Education Revolution</a></li>
<li>Fanelli, Daniele. 2009. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005738" target="_blank">How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data</a></li>
<li>Rouse, Margaret, 2012, Big Data Analytics. Retrieved from <a href="http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-analytics" target="_blank">http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-analytics</a> on 12/1/2014. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.sas.com/en_us/legal/copyright.html" target="_blank">SAS Institute Inc</a>, Big Data Analytics. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/big-data-analytics.html" target="_blank">http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/big-data-analytics.html</a> on 12/2/2014. </li>
<li>Schmarzo, Bill, 2014. <a href="https://infocus.emc.com/william_schmarzo/what-universities-can-learn-from-big-data-higher-education-analytics/" target="_blank">What Universities Can Learn from Big Data – Higher Education Analytics</a>, </li>
<li>2012. Survey Methodology – A statistical approach to detect interviewer falsification of survey data. Retrieved from <a href="http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?objId=12-001-X201200111680&objType=47&lang=en&limit=0">http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?objId=12-001-X201200111680&objType=47&lang=en&limit=0</a>. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/users/robert-oak" target="_blank">Oak, Robert</a>.2013. <a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/new-york-post-claims-census-falsifies-unemployment-figures-5436" target="_blank">New York Post Claims Census Falsifies Unemployment Figures</a></li>
<li>Timothy P. Johnson, Vincent Parker, and Cayge Clements, 2001. <a href="http://www.srl.uic.edu/publist/Srvrsch/2001/01v32n3.PDF" target="_blank">Detection and Prevention of</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.srl.uic.edu/publist/Srvrsch/2001/01v32n3.PDF" target="_blank">Data Falsification in Survey Research</a>. </li>
<li>TerraData. Big Data Solutions. Retrieved from <a href="http://bigdata.teradata.com/">http://bigdata.teradata.com/</a> on 12/1/2014. </li>
<li>ThoughtWorks Inc. 2014. BIG DATA ANALYTICS. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.thoughtworks.com/big-data-analytics">http://www.thoughtworks.com/big-data-analytics</a> on 12/3/2014.</li>
<li>van Rijmenam, Mark. Big Data Improves Education - Infographic. Retrieved from <a href="https://datafloq.com/read/big-data-improve-education-infographic/393">https://datafloq.com/read/big-data-improve-education-infographic/393</a> on 12/3/2014.</li>
<li>Webopedia, big data analytics. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_data_analytics.html">http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_data_analytics.html</a> on 12/2/2014.</li>
</ul>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-38041479913060216602015-01-07T08:41:00.004-08:002015-01-07T08:41:49.689-08:00How to bury your academic writing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inappropriate use of journal impact factors has been much in
the spotlight. The impact factor is not only a poor indicator of research
quality but it is also blamed for delaying publication of good science, and even encouraging dishonesty. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My own
experience is in line with this: some of my most highly-cited work has appeared
in relatively humble journals. In the age of the internet, there are three
things that determine if a paper gets noticed: it needs to be tagged so that it
will be found on a computer search, it needs to be accessible and not locked
behind a paywall, and it needs to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be
well-written and interesting.</div>
While I'm not a slave to metrics, I am, like all academics
these days, fascinated by the citation data provided by sources such as Google
Scholar, and pleased when I see that something I have written has been cited by
others. The other side of the coin is the depression that ensues when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find that a paper into which I have
distilled my deepest wisdom has been ignored by the world. Often, it's hard to
say why one article is popular and another is not. The papers I'm proudest of
tend to be those that required the greatest intellectual effort, but these are
seldom the most cited. Typically, they are the more technical or mathematical
articles; others find them as hard to read as I found them to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Google Scholar reveals, however, one factor
that exerts a massive impact on whether a paper is cited or not: whether it
appears in a journal or an edited book.
<div class="MsoNormal">
I've had my suspicions about this for some time, and it has
made me very reluctant to write book chapters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can be difficult. Quite often, a chapter for the proceedings is the
price one is expected to pay for an expenses-paid invitation to a conference.
And many of my friends and colleagues get overtaken by enthusiasm for
editing a book and are keen for me to write something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But statistical analysis of citation
data confirms my misgivings. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Google Scholar is surprisingly coy in terms of what it
allows you to download. It will show you citations of your papers on the
screen, but I have not found a way to download these data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I'm a recent convert to data-scraping in R,
but you get a firm rap over the knuckles for improper behaviour if you
attempt
to use this approach to probe Google Scholar too closely). So in what
follows I treated rank order of citations, rather than absolute citation
level
as my dependent variable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
downloaded a listing of my papers, ranked by citations, and
coded them according to whether the article appeared in a journal or as a
book chapter. Book chapters tend not to be empirical – they are more often
review papers, or conceptual pieces - so to control for that I subdivided the
journal articles into empirical and theoretical/review pieces. I also excluded papers published after 2007,
to allow for the fact that recent papers haven't had a chance to get cited
much, as well as any odd items such as book reviews. To make interpretation more intuitive, I inverted the rank order, so that
a high score meant lots of citations, and the boxplots showing the results are
in the Figure below.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEVBd__zCbUqMJNf2jr51NzyBhKLDUnn-n6CVTZHdsnbN9ke4s06mWzDpm5DkIRBLJVj-srJJWnWqA5_3VqkBhQ2XCYrfxyav625Uk502gSayQfR9Rhyphenhyphen4rU_27Qxlv_5USgKm_O27ZhNh/s1600/Rplot02.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEVBd__zCbUqMJNf2jr51NzyBhKLDUnn-n6CVTZHdsnbN9ke4s06mWzDpm5DkIRBLJVj-srJJWnWqA5_3VqkBhQ2XCYrfxyav625Uk502gSayQfR9Rhyphenhyphen4rU_27Qxlv_5USgKm_O27ZhNh/s400/Rplot02.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Citation rank by
Publication type. High rank indicates more citations. There is no
significant difference between journal reviews and empirical papers,
both of which have significantly higher citation rank than book chapters
(p < .001)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I'm nerdy about these things, I did some stats, but
you don't really need them. The trend is very clear in the boxplot: book
chapters don't get cited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you
might say, maybe this is because they aren't so good; after all, book chapters
aren't usually peer reviewed. It could be true, but I doubt it. My own
appraisal is that these chapters contain some of my best writing, because they
allowed me to think about broader theoretical issues and integrate ideas from
different perspectives in a way that is not so easy in an empirical article. Perhaps,
then, it's because these papers are theoretical<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that they aren't cited. But no: look at the non-empirical pieces published
in journals. Their citation level is just as high as papers reporting empirical
data. Could publication year play a part? As mentioned above, I excluded papers
from the past five years;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>after doing
this, there was no overall correlation between citation level and publication
year.<br />
<br />
Things may be different for other disciplines, especially in
humanities, where publication in books is much more common. But if you publish in
a field where most publications are in journals, then I suspect the trend I see
in my own work will apply to you too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite simply, if you write a chapter for an edited book, you might as
well write the paper and then bury it in a hole in the ground.<br />
<br />
Accessibility is the problem. However
good<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your chapter is, if readers don't
have access to the book, they won't find it. In the past, there was at least a
faint hope that they may happen upon the book in a library, but these days,
most of us don't bother with any articles that we can't download from the
internet. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm curious as to whether publishers have any plans to tackle this
issue. Are they still producing edited collections? I still get asked to
contribute to these from time to time, but perhaps not so often as in
the past. An obvious solution would be to put edited books online, just
like journals, but there would need to be a radical rethink of access
costs if so. Nobody is going to want to pay $30 to download a single
chapter. Maybe publishers could make book chapters freely available one
or two years after publication - I see no purpose in locking this
material away from the public, and it seems unlikely this would damage
book sales. If publishers don't want to be responsible for putting
material online, they could simply return copyright to authors, who
would be free to do so.<br />
<br />
My own solution would be for editors of such collections to take matters
into their own hands, bypass publishers altogether, and produce freely
downloadable, web-based copy. But until that happens, my advice to any
academic who is tempted to write a chapter for an edited collection is <b>don't</b>. </div>
<br />
<i><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Proceedings+of+the+National+Academy+of+Sciences&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1016516107&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Impacting+our+young&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=107&rft.issue=&rft.spage=21233&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Eve+Mardera&rft.au=Helmut+Kettenmann&rft.au=Sten+Grillner&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Psychology%2CResearch+%2F+Scholarship">Reference</span></i><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Proceedings+of+the+National+Academy+of+Sciences&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1016516107&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Impacting+our+young&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=107&rft.issue=&rft.spage=21233&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Eve+Mardera&rft.au=Helmut+Kettenmann&rft.au=Sten+Grillner&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Psychology%2CResearch+%2F+Scholarship">Eve Mardera, Helmut Kettenmann, & Sten Grillner (2010). Impacting our young <span style="font-style: italic;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1016516107" rev="review">10.1073/pnas.1016516107</a></span></div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-42065957913214053382015-01-07T08:35:00.003-08:002015-01-07T08:35:29.039-08:00You want to be a research assistant? Advice for psychologists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlyJlVkX0UBFhx-cF701LxYLxt37oiR95e2VT3h2UFhCwUAOIBcnz69XRrAg8nr_jaw8opU_GhEBwx-MbR2PU970Dw_xgalAMasn7VSLiGPAZx2WB9xuNolsUQ-MI8VKs3X-veqOW5trE/s1600/ptan98h.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlyJlVkX0UBFhx-cF701LxYLxt37oiR95e2VT3h2UFhCwUAOIBcnz69XRrAg8nr_jaw8opU_GhEBwx-MbR2PU970Dw_xgalAMasn7VSLiGPAZx2WB9xuNolsUQ-MI8VKs3X-veqOW5trE/s320/ptan98h.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
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©CartoonStock.com</div>
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The dire state of the academic jobs market was brought
home to me recently. I’d advertised for someone to act as a graduate
research assistant/co-ordinator. This kind of post is a good choice for a
junior person who wants to gain experience before applying for clinical
or educational psychology training, or while considering whether to do a
doctorate. Normally I get around 30-40 applicants for this kind of
job. This time it was 123. This, apparently, is nothing. These days,
for psychology assistant jobs, which act as a gateway to oversubscribed
clinical psychology doctorate programmes, the number of applicants can
run into the hundreds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing that
strikes me is how little insight many applicants have into what happens
to their job application. I hope that this post, explaining the process
from the employer's perspective, might help aspiring job-seekers improve
their chances of getting to interview.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With
over 120 applications to process, if I allowed only two minutes for
each application, it’d take me four hours to shortlist. Of course,
that’s not how it works. There has to be an initial triage procedure
where the selection panel views the applications looking for reasons <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
to shortlist. We were able to exclude around ¾ of the applications on
the basis of a fairly brief scan. But we then had to select a shortlist
of five from the remainder. This is done on the basis of a careful
re-reading of those applications that survive triage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So
how do you get past this double hurdle and avoid initial triage, and
then make it to the shortlist? Well, here are some tips. They seem very
obvious and simple, but worth stating, as many of the applications we
received didn’t seem aware of them.</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Follow the instructions for job applicants, and read the further particulars</b>.
I gather that there are some careers advisors who recommend candidates
should send their application direct to the principal investigator,
rather than via administration, because it will get noticed. It will
indeed, but it will create the impression that you are incapable of
reading instructions. </li>
<li><b>Specify how you meet the selection criteria</b>. Our university
bends over backwards to operate a fair and transparent recruitment
policy. We need to be able to demonstrate that our decisions are based
on the selection criteria in the job advert, and not on some
idiosyncratic prejudice. The ideal applicant lists the selection
criteria in the same order that they appear in the job description and
briefly explains how they meet them. It makes the job of the selection
panel much, much easier, and they will give you credit for being both
intelligent and considerate. </li>
<li><b>Don’t apply if you don’t meet the essential selection criteria</b>.
So, if the job requires you to drive, then don’t apply if you don’t
have a driving licence (or a chauffeur). When I was young and naïve, I
assumed people wouldn’t apply for a job if they didn’t meet the
criteria, and ended up appointing a non-driver to a job that involved
travelling to remote locations with heavy equipment. It is not a mistake
I’ll make again.</li>
<li><b>Don’t assume anything is obvious</b>. To continue with the
example above, if the job involves driving and you don’t mention that
you can drive, the person evaluating your application won’t know whether
you’ve forgotten to tell them, or if you are avoiding mentioning this
because you can’t drive. Either way, it’s bad news for your application,
and in the current market, it’ll go on the ‘no’ pile.</li>
<li><b>Don’t send a standard application that is appropriate for any job</b>.
It’s key to include a cover letter or personal statement that indicates
that you have read the further particulars for this specific post. Use
Google to find out more about the post/employer. On the other hand, the
employer really doesn’t want or need to be told about the subject matter
of the research - once I had the equivalent of a short undergraduate
essay, complete with references, included in an application, and though
it demonstrated keeness, it was complete overkill. </li>
<li><b>Read through your application before you submit it</b>. I’ve had
applicants who describe how enthusiastic they are about the prospect of
working, not in my institution, but in another university. I’ve had
applications where entire paragraphs were duplicated. A melange of fonts
changing mid-paragraph, or even mid-sentence, creates a poor
impression.</li>
<li><b>Run the cover letter/personal statement through a spell checker, and check the English</b>.
Anyone working for me will be sending letters and information sheets
out to the general public on my behalf. It creates a bad impression if
there are errors, and so you’ve a very high chance of getting on the
‘no’ pile if you make mistakes on an important document like a job
application. </li>
<li><b>Be honest</b>. If there’s something unusual about your
application, explain it. I have, for instance, shortlisted a person
who’d had a prolonged period of sick leave, but who gave a clear and
honest explanation of the situation and was able to offer reassurance
about ability to do the job. </li>
<li><b>Be concise, but not too concise</b>. The cover letter/personal
statement should cover all the selection criteria, but avoid wordiness.
One to two single-spaced pages is about right.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if you get to interview? Well, this blog post has some useful hints:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/3jylth9">10 Psychological Techniques to Help You Get a New Job</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But
what if you follow all my advice and still fail to get to interview?
Alas, given the massive mismatch between the number of bright, talented
people and the number of jobs on offer, many good candidates are bound
to miss out. It certainly doesn’t mean you are unemployable. But try
this exercise: look at the selection criteria and your application, and
pretend you are the employer, not the candidate: An employer with a huge
stack of applications and limited time. What do you think looks good,
and what are the weaker points? Can you gain further experience so that
the weaker points can be remedied in future job applications? Or maybe
the weaknesses include something like a poor degree class, which can’t
be fixed. Perhaps your specific set of talents and interests just aren’t
a good fit to this kind of job, in which case you need to consider
other options. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If all else fails, you may
want to cheer yourself up by reflecting on how people who don’t go
along with the system can nevertheless have interesting and influential
lives, by reading <a href="http://j.mp/na1u5I%20">Hunter S. Thompson's 1958 job application</a> to the Vancouver Sun </div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-48656092563013267282015-01-07T08:30:00.001-08:002015-01-07T08:30:37.918-08:00Some thoughts on use of metrics in university research assessment <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) is like a walrus: it is
huge, cumbersome and has a very long gestation period. Most universities
started preparing in earnest for the REF early in 2011, with
submissions being made late in 2013. Results will be announced in late
December, just in time to cheer up our seasonal festivities.</b><br />
<br />
Like many others, I have moaned about the costs of the REF: not just in
money, but also the time spent by university staff, who could be more
cheerfully and productively engaged in academic activities. The walrus
needs feeding copious amounts of data: research outputs must be
carefully selected and then graded in terms of research quality. Over
the summer, those dedicated souls who sit on REF panels were required to
read and evaluate several hundred papers. Come December, the walrus
digestive system will have condensed the concerted ponderings of some of
the best academic minds in the UK into a handful of rankings.<br />
<br />
But is there a viable alternative? Last week I attended a fascinating workshop on the use of metrics in research. I had earlier submitted comments to an independent review of the role of metrics
in research assessment from the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE), arguing that we need to consider cost-effectiveness
when developing assessment methods. The current systems of evaluation
have grown ever more complex and expensive, without anyone considering
whether the associated improvements justified the increasing costs. My
view is that an evaluation system need not be perfect – it just needs to
be ‘good enough’ to provide a basis for disbursement of funds that can
be seen to be both transparent and fair, and which does not lend itself
readily to gaming.<br />
<br />
<b>Is there an alternative?</b><br />
When I started preparing my presentation, I had intended to talk just
about the use of measures of citations to rank departments, using analysis done for an earlier blogpost, as well as results from this paper by Mryglod et al.
Both sources indicated that, at least in sciences, the ultimate
quality-related research (QR) funding allocation for a department was
highly correlated with a department-based measure of citations. So I
planned to make the case that if we used a citation-based metric (which
can be computed by a single person in a few hours) we could achieve much
the same result as the full REF process for evaluating outputs, which
takes many months and involves hundreds of people. <br />
However, in pondering the data, I then realised that there was an even
better predictor of QR funding per department: simply the number of
staff entered into the REF process.<br />
<br />
Before presenting the analysis, I need to backtrack to just explain the
measures I am using, as this can get quite confusing. HEFCE deserves an
accolade for its website, where all the relevant data can be found. My
analyses were based on the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). In
what follows I used a file called <i>QR funding and research volume broken down by institution and subject</i>, which is downloadable here.
This contains details of funding for each institution and subject for
2009-2010. I am sure the calculations I present here have been done much
better by others and I hope they will not by shy to inform me if there
are mistakes in my working.<br />
<br />
The variables of interest are:<br />
</div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>The percentages of research falling in each star band in the RAE. From this, one can compute an <b>average quality rating</b>,
by multiplying 4* by 7, 3* by 3, and 2* by 1 and adding these, and
dividing the total by 100. Note that this figure is independent of
department size and can be treated as an estimate of the average quality
of a researcher in that department and subject.</li>
<li>The number of full-time equivalent research-active staff entered for
the RAE. This is labelled as the ‘model volume number’, but I will call
it <b>Nstaff</b>. (In fact, the numbers given in the 2009-2010
spreadsheet are slightly different from those used in the computation,
for reasons I am not clear about, but I have used the correct numbers,
i.e. those in HEFCE tables from RAE2008). </li>
<li>The <b>departmental quality rating</b>: this is <b>average quality rating</b> x <b>Nstaff</b>. (Labelled as “model quality-weighted volume” in the file). This is summed across all departments in a discipline to give a t<b>otal subject quality rating</b> (labelled as “total quality-weighted volume for whole unit of assessment”).</li>
<li>The <b>overall funds</b> available for the subject are listed as
“Model total QR quanta for whole unit of assessment (£)”. I have not
been able to establish how this number is derived, but I assume it has
to do with the size and cost of the subject, and the amount of funding
available from government.</li>
<li><b>QR (quality-related) funding</b> is then derived by dividing the <b>departmental quality rating</b> by the<b> total subject quality rating </b>and multiplying by <b>overall funds</b>.
This gives the sum of QR money allocated by HEFCE to that department
for that year, which in 2009 ranged from just over £2K (Coventry
University, Psychology) to over £12 million (UCL, Hospital-based
clinical subjects). The total QR allocation in 2009-2010 for all
disciplines was just over £1 billion.</li>
<li>The <b>departmental H-index</b> is taken from my previous blogpost.
It is derived by doing a Web of Knowledge search for articles from the
departmental address, and then computing the H-index in the usual way. Note that this does not involve identifying individual scientists.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Readers who are still with me may have noticed that we'd expect QR
funding for a subject to be correlated with Nstaff, because Nstaff
features in the formula for computing QR funding. And this makes sense,
because departments with more research staff require greater levels of
funding. A key question is just how much difference does it make to the
QR allocation if one includes the quality ratings from the RAE in the
formula.<br /><br /><b>Size-related funding</b><br />
To check this out, I computed an alternative metric, <b>size-related funding</b>, which multiplies the <b>overall funds</b> by the <b>proportion of Nstaff in the department relative to total staff</b>
in that subject across all departments. So if across all departments in
the subject there are 100 staff, a department with 10 staff would get
.1 of the overall funds for the subject.<br /><br />
Table 1 shows: the correlation between Nstaff and QR funding (r
QR/Nstaff) and how much a department would typically gain or lose if
size-related funding were adopted, expressing the absolute difference as
a percentage of QR funding (± % diff).<br /><br /><i>Table 1: Mean number of staff and QR funding by subject, with
correlation between QR and N staff, and mean difference between QR
funding and size-related funding </i></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 465px;"><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td class="xl66" style="width: 35pt;" width="47"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 465px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 8557; mso-width-source: userset; width: 176pt;" width="234"></col>
<col span="2" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 2048; mso-width-source: userset; width: 42pt;" width="56"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 1718; mso-width-source: userset; width: 35pt;" width="47"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 176pt;" width="234"><br /></td><td class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><br /></td><td class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><br /></td><td class="xl67" style="width: 42pt;" width="56"><br /></td><td class="xl67" style="width: 35pt;" width="47"><br /></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td class="xl72" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 465px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 8557; mso-width-source: userset; width: 176pt;" width="234"></col>
<col span="2" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 2048; mso-width-source: userset; width: 42pt;" width="56"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 1718; mso-width-source: userset; width: 35pt;" width="47"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl74" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 176pt;" width="234"><br /></td>
<td class="xl75" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>Mean</b></td>
<td class="xl75" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>Mean</b></td>
<td class="xl75" style="width: 42pt;" width="56"><b>r QR/</b></td>
<td class="xl75" style="width: 35pt;" width="47"><b>± %</b></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl72" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><b>Subject</b></td>
<td class="xl73"><b>Nstaff</b></td>
<td class="xl73"><b>QR £K</b></td>
<td class="xl73"><b>Nstaff</b></td>
<td class="xl73"><b>diff</b></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Cardiovascular Medicine</td>
<td class="xl68">26.3</td>
<td class="xl67">794</td>
<td class="xl70">0.906</td>
<td class="xl71">23</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Cancer Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">38.1</td>
<td class="xl69">1,330</td>
<td class="xl70">0.939</td>
<td class="xl71">13</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Infection and Immunology</td>
<td class="xl68">43.7</td>
<td class="xl69">1,506</td>
<td class="xl70">0.971</td>
<td class="xl71">22</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Other Hospital Based Clinical
Subjects</td>
<td class="xl68">58.2</td>
<td class="xl69">1,945</td>
<td class="xl70">0.986</td>
<td class="xl71">23</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Other Laboratory Based
Clinical Subjects</td>
<td class="xl68">21.8</td>
<td class="xl69">685</td>
<td class="xl70">0.952</td>
<td class="xl71">41</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Epidemiology and Public
Health</td>
<td class="xl68">26.6</td>
<td class="xl69">949</td>
<td class="xl70">0.986</td>
<td class="xl71">25</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Health Services Research</td>
<td class="xl68">21.9</td>
<td class="xl69">659</td>
<td class="xl70">0.900</td>
<td class="xl71">24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Primary Care & Community
Based Clinical<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></td>
<td class="xl68">10.4</td>
<td class="xl69">370</td>
<td class="xl70">0.790</td>
<td class="xl71">29</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Psychiatry, Neuroscience
& Clinical Psychology</td>
<td class="xl68">46.7</td>
<td class="xl69">1,402</td>
<td class="xl70">0.987</td>
<td class="xl71">15</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Dentistry</td>
<td class="xl68">31.1</td>
<td class="xl69">1,146</td>
<td class="xl70">0.977</td>
<td class="xl71">13</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Nursing and Midwifery</td>
<td class="xl68">18.0</td>
<td class="xl69">487</td>
<td class="xl70">0.930</td>
<td class="xl71">32</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Allied Health Professions and
Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">20.4</td>
<td class="xl69">424</td>
<td class="xl70">0.884</td>
<td class="xl71">36</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Pharmacy</td>
<td class="xl68">27.5</td>
<td class="xl69">899</td>
<td class="xl70">0.936</td>
<td class="xl71">24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Biological Sciences</td>
<td class="xl68">45.1</td>
<td class="xl69">1,649</td>
<td class="xl70">0.978</td>
<td class="xl71">19</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Pre-clinical and Human
Biological Sciences</td>
<td class="xl68">49.4</td>
<td class="xl69">1,944</td>
<td class="xl70">0.887</td>
<td class="xl71">18</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Agriculture, Veterinary and
Food Science</td>
<td class="xl68">33.2</td>
<td class="xl69">999</td>
<td class="xl70">0.976</td>
<td class="xl71">21</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Earth Systems and
Environmental Sciences</td>
<td class="xl68">28.6</td>
<td class="xl69">1,128</td>
<td class="xl70">0.971</td>
<td class="xl71">14</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Chemistry</td>
<td class="xl68">37.9</td>
<td class="xl69">1,461</td>
<td class="xl70">0.969</td>
<td class="xl71">18</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Physics</td>
<td class="xl68">44.0</td>
<td class="xl69">1,596</td>
<td class="xl70">0.994</td>
<td class="xl71">8</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Pure Mathematics</td>
<td class="xl68">18.4</td>
<td class="xl69">489</td>
<td class="xl70">0.957</td>
<td class="xl71">24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Applied Mathematics</td>
<td class="xl68">20.0</td>
<td class="xl69">614</td>
<td class="xl70">0.988</td>
<td class="xl71">19</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Statistics and Operational
Research</td>
<td class="xl68">12.6</td>
<td class="xl69">406</td>
<td class="xl70">0.953</td>
<td class="xl71">19</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Computer Science and
Informatics</td>
<td class="xl68">22.9</td>
<td class="xl69">769</td>
<td class="xl70">0.954</td>
<td class="xl71">26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Electrical and Electronic
Engineering</td>
<td class="xl68">23.8</td>
<td class="xl69">892</td>
<td class="xl70">0.982</td>
<td class="xl71">17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">General Engineering;
Mineral/Mining Engineering</td>
<td class="xl68">28.9</td>
<td class="xl69">1,073</td>
<td class="xl70">0.958</td>
<td class="xl71">30</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Chemical Engineering</td>
<td class="xl68">26.6</td>
<td class="xl69">1,162</td>
<td class="xl70">0.968</td>
<td class="xl71">15</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Civil Engineering</td>
<td class="xl68">23.2</td>
<td class="xl69">1,005</td>
<td class="xl70">0.960</td>
<td class="xl71">19</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Mech., Aeronautical,
Manufacturing Engineering</td>
<td class="xl68">35.7</td>
<td class="xl69">1,370</td>
<td class="xl70">0.987</td>
<td class="xl71">14</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Metallurgy and Materials</td>
<td class="xl68">21.1</td>
<td class="xl69">807</td>
<td class="xl70">0.948</td>
<td class="xl71">24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Architecture and the Built
Environment</td>
<td class="xl68">18.7</td>
<td class="xl69">436</td>
<td class="xl70">0.961</td>
<td class="xl71">23</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Town and Country Planning</td>
<td class="xl68">15.1</td>
<td class="xl69">306</td>
<td class="xl70">0.911</td>
<td class="xl71">27</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Geography and Environmental
Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">22.8</td>
<td class="xl69">505</td>
<td class="xl70">0.969</td>
<td class="xl71">21</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Archaeology</td>
<td class="xl68">20.7</td>
<td class="xl69">518</td>
<td class="xl70">0.990</td>
<td class="xl71">12</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Economics and Econometrics</td>
<td class="xl68">25.7</td>
<td class="xl69">581</td>
<td class="xl70">0.968</td>
<td class="xl71">20</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Accounting and Finance</td>
<td class="xl68">11.7</td>
<td class="xl69">156</td>
<td class="xl70">0.982</td>
<td class="xl71">19</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Business and Management
Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">38.7</td>
<td class="xl69">630</td>
<td class="xl70">0.964</td>
<td class="xl71">27</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Library and Information
Management</td>
<td class="xl68">16.3</td>
<td class="xl69">244</td>
<td class="xl70">0.935</td>
<td class="xl71">26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Law</td>
<td class="xl68">26.6</td>
<td class="xl69">426</td>
<td class="xl70">0.960</td>
<td class="xl71">30</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Politics and International
Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">22.4</td>
<td class="xl69">333</td>
<td class="xl70">0.955</td>
<td class="xl71">31</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Social Work and Social Policy
& Administration</td>
<td class="xl68">19.1</td>
<td class="xl69">324</td>
<td class="xl70">0.944</td>
<td class="xl71">26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Sociology</td>
<td class="xl68">24.1</td>
<td class="xl69">404</td>
<td class="xl70">0.933</td>
<td class="xl71">24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Anthropology</td>
<td class="xl68">18.6</td>
<td class="xl69">363</td>
<td class="xl70">0.946</td>
<td class="xl71">12</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Development Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">21.7</td>
<td class="xl69">368</td>
<td class="xl70">0.936</td>
<td class="xl71">25</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Psychology</td>
<td class="xl68">21.1</td>
<td class="xl69">424</td>
<td class="xl70">0.919</td>
<td class="xl71">35</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Education</td>
<td class="xl68">21.0</td>
<td class="xl69">346</td>
<td class="xl70">0.983</td>
<td class="xl71">34</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Sports-Related Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">13.5</td>
<td class="xl69">231</td>
<td class="xl70">0.952</td>
<td class="xl71">37</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">American Studies and
Anglophone Area Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">10.9</td>
<td class="xl69">191</td>
<td class="xl70">0.988</td>
<td class="xl71">11</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Middle Eastern and African
Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">17.7</td>
<td class="xl69">393</td>
<td class="xl70">0.978</td>
<td class="xl71">17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Asian Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">15.9</td>
<td class="xl69">258</td>
<td class="xl70">0.938</td>
<td class="xl71">26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">European Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">20.1</td>
<td class="xl69">253</td>
<td class="xl70">0.787</td>
<td class="xl71">30</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Russian, Slavonic and East
European Languages</td>
<td class="xl68">8.7</td>
<td class="xl69">138</td>
<td class="xl70">0.973</td>
<td class="xl71">22</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">French</td>
<td class="xl68">12.6</td>
<td class="xl69">195</td>
<td class="xl70">0.979</td>
<td class="xl71">16</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">German, Dutch and
Scandinavian Languages</td>
<td class="xl68">8.4</td>
<td class="xl69">129</td>
<td class="xl70">0.966</td>
<td class="xl71">17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Italian</td>
<td class="xl68">6.3</td>
<td class="xl69">111</td>
<td class="xl70">0.865</td>
<td class="xl71">20</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Iberian and Latin American
Languages</td>
<td class="xl68">9.1</td>
<td class="xl69">156</td>
<td class="xl70">0.937</td>
<td class="xl71">17</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Celtic Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">0.0</td>
<td class="xl69">328</td>
<td class="xl70"><br /></td>
<td class="xl71"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">English Language and
Literature</td>
<td class="xl68">20.9</td>
<td class="xl69">374</td>
<td class="xl70">0.982</td>
<td class="xl71">26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Linguistics</td>
<td class="xl68">11.7</td>
<td class="xl69">168</td>
<td class="xl70">0.956</td>
<td class="xl71">18</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Classics, Ancient History,
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">19.4</td>
<td class="xl69">364</td>
<td class="xl70">0.992</td>
<td class="xl71">22</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Philosophy</td>
<td class="xl68">14.4</td>
<td class="xl69">258</td>
<td class="xl70">0.987</td>
<td class="xl71">23</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Theology, Divinity and
Religious Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">11.4</td>
<td class="xl69">174</td>
<td class="xl70">0.958</td>
<td class="xl71">32</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">History</td>
<td class="xl68">20.8</td>
<td class="xl69">366</td>
<td class="xl70">0.988</td>
<td class="xl71">21</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Art and Design</td>
<td class="xl68">22.7</td>
<td class="xl69">419</td>
<td class="xl70">0.955</td>
<td class="xl71">37</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">History of Art, Architecture
and Design</td>
<td class="xl68">10.7</td>
<td class="xl69">213</td>
<td class="xl70">0.960</td>
<td class="xl71">18</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Drama, Dance and Performing
Arts</td>
<td class="xl68">9.8</td>
<td class="xl69">221</td>
<td class="xl70">0.864</td>
<td class="xl71">36</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Communication, Cultural and
Media Studies</td>
<td class="xl68">11.9</td>
<td class="xl69">195</td>
<td class="xl70">0.860</td>
<td class="xl71">29</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">Music</td>
<td class="xl76">10.6</td>
<td class="xl77">259</td>
<td class="xl78">0.863</td>
<td class="xl79">33</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Correlations between Nstaff and QR funding are very high –above .9.
Nevertheless, this analysis shows that, as is evident in Table 1, if we
substituted size-related funding for QR funding, the amounts gained or
lost by individual departments can be substantial. In some subjects,
though, mainly in the Humanities, where overall QR allocations are
anyhow quite modest, the difference between size-related and QR funding
is not large in absolute terms. In such cases, it might be rational to
allocate funds solely by Nstaff and ignore quality ratings. The
advantage would be an enormous saving in time – one could bypass the RAE
or REF entirely. This might be a reasonable option if the amount of
expenditure on the RAE/REF by the department exceeds any potential gain
from inclusion of quality ratings.<br />
<br />
<b>Is the departmental H-index useful?</b><br />
If we assume that the goal is to have a system that approximates the
outcomes of the RAE (and I’ll come back to that later) then for most
subjects you need something more than Nstaff. The issue then is whether
an easily computed department-based metric such as the H-index or total
citations could add further predictive power. I looked at the figures
for two subjects where I had computed the departmental H-index:
Psychology and Physics. As it happens, Physics is an extreme case: the
correlation between Nstaff and QR funding was .994. Adding an H-index
does not improve prediction because there is virtually no variance left
to explain. As can be seen from Table 1, Physics is a case where use of
size-related funding might be justified, given that the difference
between size-related and QR funding averages out at only 8%.<br />
<br />
For Psychology, adding the H-index to the regression explains a small
but significant 6.2% of additional variance, with the correlation
increasing to .95.<br />
<br />
But how much difference would it make in practice if we were to use
these readily available measures to award funding instead of the RAE
formula? The answer is more than you might think, and this is because
the range in award size is so very large that even a small departure
from perfect prediction can translate into a lot of money.<br />
<br />
Table 2 shows the different levels of funding that departments would
accrue depending on how the funding formula is computed. The full table
is too large and complex to show here, so I'll just show every 8th
institution. As well as comparing alternative size-related and
H-index-based (QRH) metrics with the RAE funding formula (QR0137), I
have looked at how things change if the funding formula is tweaked:
either to give more linear weighting to the different star categories
(QR1234), or to give more extreme reward for the highest 4* category
(QR0039) – something which is rumoured to be a preferred method for
REF2014. In addition, I have devised a metric that has some parallels
with the RAE metric, based on the residual of the H-index after removing
effect of departmental size. This could be used as an index of quality
that is independent of size;
it correlates with r = .87 with the RAE average quality rating. To get
an
alternative QR estimate, it was substituted for the average quality
rating in the funding formula to give the Size.Hres measure.<br />
<br />
<i>Table 2: Funding results in £K from different metrics for seven
Psychology departments representing different levels of QR funding</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 448px;"><colgroup><col span="2" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col span="5" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">institution</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">QR0137</span></td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Size-related</span></td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">QR1234</span></td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">QR0039</span></td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">QRH</span></td>
<td class="xl65" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Size.Hres</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">A</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">1891</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">1138</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">1424</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">2247</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">1416</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">1470</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">B</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">812</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">585</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">683</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">899</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">698</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">655</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">C</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">655</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">702</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">688</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">620</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">578</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">576</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">D</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">405</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">363</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">401</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">400</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">499</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">422</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">E</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">191</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">323</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">276</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">121</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">279</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">304</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">F</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">78</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">192</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">140</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">44</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">299</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">218</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">G</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">26</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">161</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">81</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">13</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">60</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">142</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
To avoid invidious comparisons, I have not labelled the departments,
though anyone who is curious about their identity could discover them
quite readily. The two columns that use the H-index tend to give
similar results, and are closer to a QR funding based that treats the
four star ratings as equal points on a scale (QR1234). It is also
apparent that a move to QR0039 (where most reward is given for 4*
research and none for 1* or 2*) will increase the share of funds to
those institutions who are already doing well, and decrease it for those
who already have poorer income under the current system. One can also
see that some of the Universities at the lower end of the table – all of
them post 1992 universities – seem disadvantaged by the RAE metric, in
that the funding they received seems low relative to both their size and
the H-index.<br />
<br />
<b>The quest for a fair solution</b><br />
So what is a fair solution? Here, of course, lies the problem. There is
no gold standard. There has been a lot of discussion about whether we
should use metrics, but much less discussion of what we are hoping to
achieve with a funding allocation.<br />
<br />
How about the idea that we could allocate funds simply on the basis of
the number of research-active staff? In a straw poll I’ve taken, two
concerns are paramount.<br />
<br />
First, there is a widely held view that we should give maximum rewards
to those with highest quality research, because this will help them
maintain their high standing, and incentivise others to do well. This is
coupled with a view that we should not be rewarding those who don’t
perform. But how extreme do we want this concentration of funding to be?
I’ve expressed concerns before
that too much concentration in a few elite institutions is not good for
UK academia, and that we should be thinking about helping
middle-ranking institution become elite, rather than focusing all our
attention on those who have already achieved that status. The
calculations from RAE in Table 2 show how a tweaking of the funding
formula to give higher weighting to 4* research will take money from the
poorer institutions and give it to the richer ones: it would be good to
see some discussion of the rationale for this approach.<br />
<br />
The second source of worry is the potential for gaming. What is to stop a
department from entering all their staff, or boosting numbers by taking
on extra staff? The first point could be dealt with by having objective
criteria for inclusion, such as some minimal number of first- or
last-authored publications in the reporting period. The second strategy
would be a risky one, since the institution would have to provide
salaries and facilities for the additional staff, and this would only be
cost-effective if the QR allocation would cover it. Of course, a really
cynical gaming strategy would be to hire people briefly for the REF and
then fire them once it is over. However, if funding were simply a
function of number of research-active staff, it would be easy to do an
assessment annually, to deter such short-term strategies.<br />
<br />
How about the departmental H-index? I have shown that it not only is a
fairly good predictor of RAE QR funding outcomes on its own,
incorporating as it does both aspects of departmental size and research
quality, but it also correlates with the RAE measure of quality, once
the effect of departmental size is adjusted for. This is all the more
impressive when one notes that the departmental H-index is based on any
articles listed as coming from the departmental address, whereas the
quality rating is based just on those articles submitted to the RAE.<br />
<br />
There are well-rehearsed objections to the use of citation metrics such
as the H-index: first any citation-based measure is useless for very
recent articles. Second, citations vary from discipline to discipline,
and in my own subject, Psychology, within sub-disciplines.. Furthermore,
the H-index can be gamed to some extent by self-citation, or scientific
cliques, and one way of boosting it is to insist on having your name on
any publication you are remotely connected with - though the latter
strategy is more likely to work for the H-index of the individual than
for the H-index of the department. It is easy to find anecdotal
instances of poor articles that are highly cited and good articles that
are neglected. Nevertheless, it may be a ‘good enough’ measure when
used in aggregate: not to judge individuals but to gauge the scientific
influence of work coming from a given department over a period of a few
years.<br />
<br />
<b>The quest for a perfect measure of quality</b><br />
I doubt that either of these ‘quick and dirty’ indices will be adopted
for future funding allocations, because it’s clear that most academics
hate the idea of anything so simple. One message frequently voiced at
the Sussex meeting was that quality is far too complex to be reduced to a
single number. While I agree with that sentiment, I am concerned that
in our attempts to get a perfect assessment method, we are developing
systems that are ever more complex and time-consuming. The initial
rationale for the RAE was that we needed a fair and transparent means of
allocating funding after the 1992 shake-up of the system created many
new universities. Over the years, there has been mission creep, and the
purpose of the RAE has been taken over by the idea that we can and
should measure quality, feeding an obsession with league tables and
competition. My quest for something simpler is not because I think
quality is simple, but rather because I think we should use the REF just
as a means to allocate funds. If that is our goal, we should not reject
simple metrics just because we find them oversimplistic: we should base
our decisions on evidence and go for whatever achieves an acceptable
outcome at reasonable cost. If a citation-based metric can do that job,
then we should consider using it unless we can demonstrate that
something else works better.<br />
<br />
I'd be very grateful for comments and corrections.<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Reference</b>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Scientometrics&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2Fs11192-013-1058-9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Comparison+of+a+citation-based+indicator+and+peer+review+for+absolute+and+specific+measures+of+research-group+excellence&rft.issn=0138-9130&rft.date=2013&rft.volume=97&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=767&rft.epage=777&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2F10.1007%2Fs11192-013-1058-9&rft.au=Mryglod%2C+O.&rft.au=Kenna%2C+R.&rft.au=Holovatch%2C+Y.&rft.au=Berche%2C+B.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Psychology%2CResearch+%2F+Scholarship%2Cmetrics"> </span><br /><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Scientometrics&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2Fs11192-013-1058-9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Comparison+of+a+citation-based+indicator+and+peer+review+for+absolute+and+specific+measures+of+research-group+excellence&rft.issn=0138-9130&rft.date=2013&rft.volume=97&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=767&rft.epage=777&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2F10.1007%2Fs11192-013-1058-9&rft.au=Mryglod%2C+O.&rft.au=Kenna%2C+R.&rft.au=Holovatch%2C+Y.&rft.au=Berche%2C+B.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Psychology%2CResearch+%2F+Scholarship%2Cmetrics">Mryglod,
O., Kenna, R., Holovatch, Y., & Berche, B. (2013). Comparison of a
citation-based indicator and peer review for absolute and specific
measures of research-group excellence <span style="font-style: italic;">Scientometrics, 97</span> (3), 767-777 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1058-9" rev="review">10.1007/s11192-013-1058-9</a></span></div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-61280103627323610802015-01-07T07:57:00.001-08:002015-01-07T08:05:56.227-08:00E-Learning for Current Generations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-CA">In recent years I have been working on two major concepts:<br />
first, the connectivist theory of online learning, which views learning as a<br />
network process; and second, the massive open online course, or MOOC, which is<br />
an instantiation of that process. These, however, represent only the most<br />
recent of what can be seen as a series of 'generations' of e-learning. In this<br />
talk I describe these generations and discuss how they led to, and are a part<br />
of, the most recent work in online learning.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The theme I would like to explore today concerns the growth<br />
and development of our idea of online learning, or as it is sometimes called,<br />
e-learning. What I would like to do is to describe a series of 'generations' of<br />
technologies and approaches that have characterized the development of online<br />
learning over the years. These generations of have informed the shape of online<br />
learning as it exists today, and will help us understand something of the<br />
direction it will take in the future.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">These generations span more than a 20-year period. Indeed,<br />
there may even be described a 'generation zero' that predates even my own<br />
involvement in online learning. This generation is characterized by systems such<br />
as Plato, and represents the very idea of placing learning content online. This<br />
includes not only text but also images, audio, video and animations. It also<br />
represents, to a degree, the idea of programmed learning. This is the idea that<br />
computers can present us with content and activities in a sequence determined<br />
by our choices and by the results of online interactions, such as tests and<br />
quizzes. We have never wandered far from this foundational idea, not even in<br />
the 21st century. And it continues to be the point of departure for all<br />
subsequent developments in the field of online learning.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">For me, 'generation one' consists of the idea of the<br />
network itself. My first work in the field of online learning was to set up a<br />
bulletin board system, called Athabaska BBS, in order to allow students from<br />
across the province to communicate with me online. It was also the time I first<br />
began using email, the time I began using the Usenet bulletin Board system, and<br />
the time I first began using online information systems such as Gopher. The<br />
process of connecting was involved and complex, requiring the use of modems and<br />
special software.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">As generation one developed, generation zero matured. The<br />
personal computer became a tool anyone could use to create and store their own<br />
content. Commercial software came into existence, including both operating<br />
systems and application programs such as spreadsheets, word processors, and<br />
database tools. Content could be created in novel ways - the 'mail merge'<br />
program, for example, would allow you to print the same letter multiple times,<br />
but each with a different name and address drawn from a database.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The next generation takes place in the early 1990s and is<br />
essentially the application of computer games to online learning. These games<br />
were in the first instance text-based and very simple. But they brought with<br />
them some radical changes to the idea of learning itself.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">One key development was the idea that multiple people could<br />
occupy the same online 'space' and communicate and interact with each other.<br />
This development coincided with the creation of IRC - inter-relay chat - and<br />
meant that you were in real time communication with multiple people around the<br />
world. But more: the gaming environment meant you could do things with other<br />
people - explore terrain, solve puzzles, even fight with them.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Another key idea was the design of the gaming space itself.<br />
Early computer games (and many early arcade games) were designed like<br />
programmed learning: they were like a flow chart, guiding you through a series<br />
of choices to a predetermined conclusion. But the online games were much more<br />
open-ended. Players interacted with the environment, but the outcome was not<br />
predetermined. At first it was created by chance, as in the rolling of dice in<br />
a Dungeons and Dragons game. But eventually every game state was unique, and it<br />
was no longer possible to memorize the correct sequence of steps to a<br />
successful outcome.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The third element was the technology developed to enable<br />
that which we today call object oriented programming. This changed the nature<br />
of a computer program from a single entity that processed data to a collection<br />
of independent entities - objects - that interacted with each other: they could<br />
send messages to each other to prompt responses, one could be 'contained' in<br />
another, or one could be 'part' of another. So a game player would be an<br />
object, a monster would be an object, they would be contained in a 'room' that<br />
was also an object, and gameplay consisted of the interactions of these objects<br />
with each other in an unplanned open-ended way.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">During the development of this second generation we saw the<br />
consolidation of computer-based software and content, and the commercialization<br />
of the network itself. The many brands we saw in the 80s - Atari, Amiga, Tandy,<br />
IBM, and many more - coalesced into the now familiar Mac-PC divide. A few major<br />
software developers emerged, companies like Microsoft and Corel. Computers<br />
became mainstream, and became important business (and learning) tools. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Meanwhile, the world of networks began to commercialize.<br />
Commercial bulletin board services emerged, such as Prodigy, AOL, GEnie and<br />
Compuserv. And the first local internet service providers came into being.<br />
Networking became the way important people connected, and communities like the<br />
WELL began to define a new generation of thought leaders.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">You can begin to see a pattern developing here. Through the<br />
first three generations, a familiar process of innovation occurs: first the<br />
development and piloting of the technology (which is also when the open source<br />
community springs up around it), then the commercialization of the technology,<br />
then the consolidation of that commercial market as large players eliminate<br />
weaker competitors.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The next generation sees the development of the content<br />
management system, and in learning, the learning management system.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Both of these are applications developed in order to apply<br />
the functionality developed in generation zero - content production and<br />
management - to the platform developed in generation one - the world wide web.<br />
The first content management systems were exactly like mail merge, except<br />
instead of printing out the content, they delivered it to the remote user<br />
(inside a computer program, the commands are exactly the same - 'print' is used<br />
to print data to a page, print data to a file, or print data to the network).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Early learning management systems were very easy to define.<br />
They consisted of a set of documents which could be merged with a list of<br />
registered users for delivery. They also supported some of the major functions<br />
of networks: bulletin boards, where these users could post messages to each<br />
other, chat rooms, where they could occupy the same online space together, and<br />
online quizzes and activities, where they could interact with the documents and<br />
other resources.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">It is interesting to me to reflect that the major debates<br />
about online learning around this time centered on whether online learning<br />
would be mostly about online content - that is, reflective of generation zero -<br />
or mostly about online interaction - that is, reflective of generation one. I<br />
remember some teachers in Manitoba swearing by the interaction model, and using<br />
a bulletin-board style application called FirstClass - eschewing to more<br />
content-based approach I was favouring at the time.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Learning management systems drew a great deal from distance<br />
learning. Indeed, online was (and is still) seen as nothing more than a special<br />
type of distance learning. As such, they favoured a content-based approached,<br />
with interaction following secondarily. And a very standard model emerged:<br />
present objectives, present content, discuss, test. More advanced systems<br />
attempted to replicate the programmed learning paradigm. The Holy Grail of the<br />
day was adaptive learning - a system which would test you (or pretest you) to<br />
determine your skill level, then deliver content and activities appropriate to<br />
that level.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Despite its now-apparent shortcomings, the learning<br />
management system brought some important developments to the field.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">First, they brought the idea that learning content could be<br />
modularized, or 'chunked'. This enabled a more fine-grained presentation of<br />
learning content than traditional sources such as textbooks and university<br />
courses. Shorter-form learning content is almost ubiquitous today. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Second, it created the idea that these content modules or<br />
chunks were sharable. The idea that books or courses could be broken down into<br />
smaller chunks suggested to people that these chunks could be created in one<br />
context and reused in another context. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">And third, they brought together the idea of communication<br />
and content in the same online environment. The learning management system<br />
became a place where these smaller content objects could be presented, and then<br />
discussed by groups of people either in a discussion board or in a live chat. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">These were the core elements of learning management<br />
technology, and a generation of online learning research and development<br />
centered around how content should be created, managed and discussed in online<br />
learning environments. People discussed whether this form of learning could be<br />
equal to classroom learning, they discussed the methodology for producing these<br />
chunks, and they discussed the nature, role and importance of inline<br />
interaction.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Around this time as well an ambitious program began in an<br />
effort to apply some of the generation two principles to learning management<br />
systems (and to content management in general). We came to know this effort<br />
under the heading of 'learning objects'. In Canada we had something called the<br />
East-West project, which was an attempt to standardize learning resources. The<br />
United States developed IMS, and eventually SCORM. Most of the work focused on<br />
the development of metadata, to support discoverability and sharing, but the<br />
core of the program was an attempt to introduce second generation technology -<br />
interactive objects - to learning and content management.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">But it didn't take hold. To this day, the learning<br />
management system is designed essentially to present content and support<br />
discussion and activities around that content. We can understand why when we<br />
look at the development of the previous generations of online learning.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">By the time learning management systems were developed,<br />
operating systems and application programs, along with the content they<br />
supported, were enterprise software. Corporations and institutions supported<br />
massive centralized distributions. An entire college or university would<br />
standardize on, say, Windows 3.1 (and very few on anything else). 'Content'<br />
became synonymous with 'documents' and these documents - not something fuzzy<br />
like 'objects' - were what would be created and published and shared.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The network was by this time well into the process of<br />
becoming consolidated. Completely gone was the system of individual bulletin<br />
board services; everything now belonged to one giant network. Telecoms and<br />
large service providers such as AOL were coming to dominate access. The<br />
internet standardized around a document presentation format - HTML - and was<br />
defined in terms of websites and pages, constituting essentially a simplified<br />
version of the content produced by enterprise software. The same vendors that<br />
sold these tools - companies like Microsoft and Adobe - sold web production and<br />
viewing tools. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Probably the most interesting developments of all at the<br />
time were happening outside the LMS environment entirely. The tools used to<br />
support online gaming were by this time becoming commercialized. It is worth<br />
mentioning a few of these. New forms of games were being developed and entire<br />
genres - strategy games, for example, sports games, and first-person shooters -<br />
became widely popular.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Though gaming remained a largely offline activity, online<br />
environments were also beginning to develop. One of the first 3D multi-user<br />
environments, for example, was Alpha Worlds. This was followed by Second Life,<br />
which for a while was widely popular. Online gaming communities also became<br />
popular, such as the chess, backgammon and card playing sites set up by Yahoo.<br />
And of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention online gambling sites.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">As I mentioned, these developments took place outside the<br />
LMS market. The best efforts of developers to incorporate aspects of gaming -<br />
from object oriented learning design to simulations and gaming environments to<br />
multi-user interactions - were of limited utility in learning management<br />
systems. LMSs were firmly entrenched in the world of content production, and to<br />
a lesser extent the world of networked communication.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">This leads us next to the fourth generation, paradoxically<br />
called web 2.0 - and in the field of online learning, e-learning 2.0.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The core ideas of web 2.0 almost defy description in<br />
previous terminology. But two major phenomena describe web 2.0 - first, the<br />
rise of social networks, and second, the creation of content and services that<br />
can interact with those networks. Web 2.0 is sometimes described as the 'web as<br />
a platform' but it is probably more accurate to see it as networking being<br />
applied to data (or perhaps data being applied to networking).</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The core technology of web 2.0 is social software. We are<br />
most familiar with social software through brand names like Friendster,<br />
MySpace, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and most recently, Google+. But if we<br />
think for a moment about what social software is, it is essentially the<br />
migration of some of your personal data - like your mailing list - to a content<br />
management system on the web. These systems then leverage that data to create<br />
networks. So you can now do things online - like send the same message to many<br />
friends - that you could previously only do with specialized applications.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">E-learning 2.0 is the same idea applied to e-learning<br />
content. I am widely regarded as one of the developers of e-learning 2.0, but<br />
this is only because I recognized that a major objective of such technologies<br />
as learning objects and SCORM was to treat learning resources as data. The idea<br />
was that each individual would have available online the same sort of content<br />
authoring and distribution capabilities previously available only to major<br />
publishers. And these would be provided online.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">E-learning 2.0 brings several important developments to the<br />
table.</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">First, it brings in the idea of the social graph, which is<br />
essentially the list of people you send content to, and the list of people who<br />
send you content, and everyone else's list, all in one big table. The social<br />
graph defines a massive communications network in which people, rather than<br />
computers, are the interconnected nodes.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Second, it brings in the idea of personal publishing. The<br />
beginning of web 2.0 is arguably the development of blogging software, which<br />
allowed people to easily create web content for the first time. But it's also<br />
Twitter, which made creating microcontent even easier, and YouTube, which<br />
allowed people to publish videos, and MySpace, which did the same for music,<br />
and Facebook and Flickr, which did the same for photos.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Third, it brings in the idea of interoperability, first in<br />
the form of syndication formats such as RSS, which allow us to share our<br />
content easily with each other, but also later in the form or application<br />
programming interfaces, which allow one computer program on one website to<br />
communicate with another program on another website. These allow you to use one<br />
application - your social network platform, for example - to use another<br />
application - play a game, edit content, or talk to each other.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">And fourth, it brings us the idea of platform-independence.<br />
Web 2.0 is as much about mobile computing as it is about social software. It is<br />
as much about using your telephone to post status updates or upload photos as<br />
it is about putting your phonebook on a website. Maybe even more so.</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">What made web 2.0 possible? In a certain sense, it was the<br />
maturation of generation 0, web content and applications. After being<br />
developed, commercialized and consolidated, these became enterprise services.<br />
But as enterprises became global, these two become global, and emerged out of<br />
the enterprise to become cloud and mobile contents and applications.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Some of the major social networking sites are actually<br />
cloud storage sites - YouTube and Flickr are the most obvious examples. Some<br />
are less obvious, but become so when you think about it - Wikipedia, for<br />
example. Other cloud storage sites operate behind the scenes, like Internet<br />
Archive and Amazon Web Services. And there are cloud services, like Akamai,<br />
that never reach the mainstream perception. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">These cloud services developed as a result of enterprise<br />
networking. On the research side, high-speed backbones such as Internet 2 in<br />
the U.S. and CA*Net 3 in Canada virtually eliminated network lag even for large<br />
data files, audio and video. Similar capacities were being developed for lease<br />
by the commercial sector. And the now-consolidated consumer market now began to<br />
support always-on broadband capacity through ASDL or cable internet services. </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The consolidation of core gaming technologies took place<br />
largely behind the scenes. This era sees the ascendance of object-oriented<br />
coding languages such as Java and dot Net. The open-ended online environment<br />
led to massive multiplayer online games such as Eve and World of Warcraft. In<br />
learning we see the emergence of major simulation developers such as CAE and<br />
conferencing systems such as Connect, Elluminate, and Cisco. These have become<br />
dominant in the delivery of online seminars and classes. </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Content management services, meanwhile, were increasingly<br />
commercialized. We saw the emergence of Blackboard and WebCT, and on the<br />
commercial side products like Saba and Docent. Google purchased Blogger, Yahoo<br />
purchased Flickr, and even the world of open source systems came to be<br />
dominated by quasi-commercial enterprises. Innovators moved on and began to try<br />
radical new technologies like RSS and AJAX, Twitter and Technorati. Today we<br />
think of social networking in terms of the giants, but when it started in the<br />
mid-2000s the technology was uncertain and evolving. In education, probably the<br />
major player from this era was Elgg, at that time and still to this day a novel<br />
technology.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Today, of course, social networking is ubiquitous. The<br />
major technologies have been commercialized and are moving rapidly toward<br />
commodification and enterprise adoption. The ubiquity of social networking came<br />
about as a result of the commercialization of content management services. A<br />
new business model has emerged in which providers sell information about their<br />
users to marketing agencies. The proliferation of social networking sites has<br />
now been reduced to a few major competitors, notably YouTube, Facebook and<br />
Twitter. The providers of search and document management services - Yahoo,<br />
Microsoft, Apple and Google - have their own social networks, but these are<br />
also-rans. Hence when people speak of 'social network learning' they often mean<br />
'using Facebook to support learning' or some such thing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">This is the beginning of the sixth generation, a generation<br />
characterized by commercialized web 2.0 services, a consolidation of the<br />
CMS/LMS market, the development of enterprise conferencing and simulation<br />
technology, cloud networking and - at last - open content and open operating<br />
systems.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Now before the Linux advocates lynch me, let me say that,<br />
yes, there have always been open operating systems. But - frankly - until<br />
recently they have always been the domain of innovators, enthusiasts and hobbyists.<br />
Not mainstream - not, say, running underlying major commercial brands, the way<br />
Linux now underlies Apple's OSX, and not widely used, say, the way Android<br />
powers a large percentage of mobile phones.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">So that's the history of online learning through five<br />
generations, but it is also a listing of the major technologies that form the<br />
foundation for sixth-generation e-learning, which I would characterized by the<br />
Massive Open Online Course.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Let me spend a few moments talking about the development of the MOOC model.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">When George Siemens and I created the first MOOC in 2008 we<br />
were not setting out to create a MOOC. So the form was not something we<br />
designed and implemented, at least, not explicitly so. But we had very clear<br />
ideas of where we wanted to go, and I would argue that it was those clear ideas<br />
that led to the definition of the MOOC as it exists today.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">There were two major influences. One was the beginning of<br />
open online courses. We had both seen them in operation in the past, and had<br />
most recently been influenced by Alec Couros's online graduate course and David<br />
Wiley's wiki-based course. What made these courses important was that they<br />
invoked the idea of including outsiders into university courses in some way.<br />
The course was no longer bounded by the institution.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The other major influence was the emergence of massive<br />
online conferences. George had run a major conference on Connectivism, in which<br />
I was a participant. This was just the latest in a series of such conferences.<br />
Again, what made the format work was that the conference was open. And it was<br />
the success of the conference that made it worth considering a longer and more<br />
involved enterprise.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">We set up Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008<br />
(CCK08) as a credit course in Manitoba's Certificate in Adult Education (CAE),<br />
offered by the University of Manitoba. It was a bit of Old Home Week for me, as<br />
Manitoba's first-ever online course was also offered through the CAE program,<br />
Introduction to Instruction, designed by Conrad Albertson and myself, and<br />
offered by Shirley Chapman.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">What made CCK08 different was that we both decided at the<br />
outset that it would be designed along explicitly connectivist lines, whatever<br />
those were. Which was great in theory, but then we began almost immediately to<br />
accommodate the demands of a formal course offered by a traditional<br />
institution. The course would have a start date and an end date, and a series<br />
of dates in between, which would constitute a course schedule. Students would<br />
be able to sign up for credit, but if they did, they would have assignments<br />
that would be marked (by George; I had no interest in marking).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">But beyond that, the course was non-traditional. Because<br />
when you make a claim like the central claim of connectivism, that the<br />
knowledge is found in the connections between people with each other and that<br />
learning is the development and traversal of those connections, then you can't<br />
just offer a body of content in an LMS and call it a course. Had we simply<br />
presented the 'theory of connectivism' as a body of content to be learned by<br />
participants, we would have undercut the central thesis of connectivism.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">This seems to entail offering a course without content -<br />
how do you offer a course without content? The answer is that the course is not<br />
without content, but rather, that the content does not define the course. That<br />
there is no core of content that everyone must learn does not entail that there<br />
is zero content. Quite the opposite. It entails that there is a surplus of<br />
content. When you don't select a certain set of canonical contents, everything<br />
becomes potential content, and as we saw in practice, we ended up with a lot of<br />
content.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Running the course over fourteen weeks, with each week<br />
devoted to a different topic, actually helped us out. Rather than constrain us,<br />
it allowed us to mitigate to some degree the effects an undifferentiated<br />
torrent of content would produce. It allowed us to say to ourselves that we'll<br />
look at 'this' first and 'that' later. It was a minimal structure, but one that<br />
seemed to be a minimal requirement for any sort of coherence at all.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Even so, as it was, participants complained that there was<br />
too much information. This led to the articulation of exactly what connectivism<br />
meant in a networked information environment, and resulted in the definition of<br />
a key feature of MOOCs. Learning in a MOOC, we advised, is in the first<br />
instance a matter of learning how to select content.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">By navigating the content environment, and selecting content<br />
that is relevant to your own personal preferences and context, you are creating<br />
an individual view or perspective. So you are first creating connections<br />
between contents with each other and with your own background and experience.<br />
And working with content in a connectivist course does not involve learning or<br />
remembering the content. Rather, it is to engage in a process of creation and<br />
sharing. Each person in the course, speaking from his or her unique<br />
perspective, participates in a conversation that brings these perspectives<br />
together.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Why not learn content? Why not assemble a body of<br />
information that people would know in common? The particular circumstances of<br />
CCK08 make the answer clear, but we can also see how it generalizes. In the<br />
case of CCK08, there is no core body of knowledge. Connectivism is a theory in<br />
development (many argued that it isn't even a theory), and the development of<br />
connective knowledge even more so. We were hesitant to teach people something<br />
definitive when even we did not know what that would be.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Even more importantly, identifying and highlighting some<br />
core principles of connectivism would undermine what it was we thought<br />
connectivism was. It's not a simple set of principles or equations you apply<br />
mechanically to obtain a result. Sure, there are primitive elements - the<br />
component of a connection, for example - but you move very quickly into a realm<br />
where any articulation of the theory, any abstraction of the principles,<br />
distorts it. The fuzzy reality is what we want to teach, but you can't teach<br />
that merely by assembling content and having people remember it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">So in order to teach connectivism, we found it necessary<br />
for people to immerse themselves in a connectivist teaching environment. The<br />
content itself could have been anything - we have since run courses in critical<br />
literacies, learning analytics, and personal learning environments. The content<br />
is the material that we work with, that forms the creative clay we use to<br />
communicate with each other as we develop the actual learning, the finely<br />
grained and nuanced understanding of learning in a network environment that<br />
develops as a result of our working within a networked environment.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">In order to support this aspect of the learning, we decided<br />
to make the course as much of a network as possible, and therefore, as little<br />
like an ordered, structured and centralized presentation as possible. Drawing<br />
on work we'd done previously, we set up a system whereby people would use their<br />
own environments, whatever they were, and make connections between each other<br />
(and each other's content) in these environments.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">To do this, we encouraged each person to create his or her<br />
own online presence; these would be their nodes in the course networks. We<br />
collected RSS feeds from these and aggregated them into a single thread, which<br />
became the course newsletter. We emphasized further that this thread was only<br />
one of any number of possible ways of looking at the course contents, and we<br />
encouraged participants to connect in any other way they deemed appropriate.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">This part of the course was a significant success. Of the<br />
2200 people who signed up for CCK08, 170 of them created their own blogs, the<br />
feeds of which were aggregated with a tool I created, called gRSShopper, and<br />
the contents delivered by email to a total of 1870 subscribers (this number<br />
remained constant for the duration of the course). Students also participated<br />
in a Moodle discussion forum, in a Google Groups forum, in three separate<br />
Second Life communities, and in other ways we didn't know about.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The idea was that in addition to gaining experience making<br />
connections between people and ideas, participants were making connections<br />
between different systems and places. What we wanted people to experience was<br />
that connectivism functions not as a cognitive theory - not as a theory about<br />
how ideas are created and transmitted - but as a theory describing how we live<br />
and grow together. We learn, in connectivism, not by acquiring knowledge as<br />
though it were so many bricks or puzzle pieces, but by becoming the sort of<br />
person we want to be.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">In this, in the offering of a course such as CCK08, and in<br />
the offering of various courses after, and in the experience of other people<br />
offering courses as varied as MobiMOOC and ds106 and eduMOOC, we see directly<br />
the growth of individuals into the theory (which they take and mold in their<br />
own way) as well as the growth of the community of connected technologies,<br />
individuals and ideas. And it is in what we learn in this way that the<br />
challenge to more traditional theories becomes evident.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Now I mentioned previously that the MOOC represents a new<br />
generation of e-learning. To understand what that means we need to understand<br />
what the MOOC is drawing from the previous generations, and what the MOOC<br />
brings that is new.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Let me review:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Generation 0 brings us the idea of documents and other<br />
learning content, created and managed using application programs. In this the<br />
sixth generation of such technologies we have finally emerged into the world of<br />
widespread free and open online documents and application programs. The ability<br />
to read and write educational content, to record audio and make video, is now<br />
open to everybody, and we leverage this in the MOOC. But this is not what makes<br />
the MOOC new.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Additionally, a fundamental underlying feature of a<br />
connectivist course is the network, which by now is in the process of becoming<br />
a cloud service. WiFi is not quite ubiquitous, mobile telephony is not quite<br />
broadband, but we are close enough to both that we are connected to each other<br />
on an ongoing basis. The MOOC leverages the network, and increasingly depends<br />
on ubiquitous access, but this is not what makes the MOOC new.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The MOOC as we have designed it also makes use of<br />
enterprise 'game' technology, most specifically the conferencing system.<br />
Elluminate has been a staple in our courses. We have also used - and may well<br />
use again in the future - environments such as Second Life. Some other courses,<br />
such as the Stanford AI course, have leveraged simulations and interactive<br />
systems. Others, like ds106, emphasize multimedia. Using these and other<br />
immersive technologies, the MOOC will become more and more like a personal<br />
learning environment, but this is not what makes the MOOC unique.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The MOOC also makes explicit use of content management systems.<br />
The early MOOCs used Moodle; today we encourage participants to use personal<br />
content management systems such as WordPress and Blogger. The gRSShopper<br />
environment itself is to a large degree a content management system, managing a<br />
large store of user contributions and facilitator resources. But clearly, the<br />
element of content management is not what makes the MOOC new.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">And the MOOC makes a lot of use of commercial social<br />
networking services. Twitter feeds and the Facebook group are major elements of<br />
the course. Many students use microblogging services like Posterous and Tumblr.<br />
Like membership in a social network, membership in the course constitutes<br />
participation in a large graph; contents from this graph are aggregated and<br />
redistributed using social networking channels and syndication technologies.<br />
But many courses make use of social networks. So that is not what makes a MOOC<br />
unique.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">So what's new? I would like to suggest that the MOOC adds<br />
two major elements to the mix, and that it is these elements that bear the most<br />
investigation and exploration.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">First, the MOOC brings the idea of distributed technology<br />
to the mix. In its simplest expression, we could say that activities do not<br />
take place in one central location, but rather, are distributed across a large<br />
network of individual sites and services. The MOOC is not 'located' at<br />
cck12.mooc.ca (or at least, it's not intended to me) - that is just one nexus<br />
of connected sites.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="hps"><span lang="EN">In fact</span></span><span lang="EN">, <span class="hps">it is the idea</span> <span class="hps">of</span> <span class="hps">distributed knowledge</span> <span class="hps">that is introduced</span> <span class="hps">by the</span> <span class="hps">MOOC</span> <span class="hps">again</span>, <span class="hps">and</span> <span class="hps">the means</span> <span class="hps">of learning is</span> <span class="hps">really involved</span> <span class="hps">with</span> <span class="hps">this<br />
idea</span>. <span class="hps">When you</span> <span class="hps">learn</span> <span class="hps">as a network</span>, <span class="hps">you cannot teach</span> <span class="hps">one</span> <span class="hps">fact after another</span>.<span class="hps"><br />
Each fact is implicated with the others.</span> <span class="hps">You cannot</span><br />
<span class="hps">see</span> <span class="hps">a</span> <span class="hps">single</span><br />
<span class="hps">fact</span>, <span class="hps">even if you</span> <span class="hps">extract</span> <span class="hps">a fact from the data</span>, <span class="hps">because it would be</span> <span class="hps">only</span> <span class="hps">one</span> <span class="hps">abstraction</span>, <span class="hps">an</span><br />
<span class="hps">idealization</span>, <span class="hps">and</span> <span class="hps">not</span> <span class="hps">more</span> <span class="hps">true that</span><br />
<span class="hps">the identification of</span> <span class="hps">regularities</span><br />
<span class="hps">in the data</span> <span class="hps">-</span> <span class="hps">and</span><br />
<span class="hps">learning becomes more</span> <span class="hps">like</span> <span class="hps">a</span> <span class="hps">process</span> <span class="hps">to</span> <span class="hps">create</span> <span class="hps">landforms</span>, <span class="hps">and<br />
less like</span> <span class="hps">an</span> <span class="hps">exercise of</span> <span class="hps">memory</span>. <span class="hps"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It<br />
is the</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="hps">process</span><br />
of pattern recognition</i> that <span class="hps">we want to develop</span>, <span class="hps">and</span> <span class="hps">not the remembering of facts</span>.</span><span lang="EN-CA"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Accordingly, the second element the MOOC brings to the mix<br />
revolves around the theory of effective networks. More deeply, the MOOC<br />
represents the instantiation of four major principles of effective distributed<br />
systems. These principles are, briefly, autonomy, diversity, openness and<br />
interactivity.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">For example, it is based on these principles that we say<br />
that it is better to obtain many points of view than one. It is based on these<br />
principles that we say that the knowledge of a collection of people is greater<br />
than just the sum of each person’s knowledge. It is based on these principles<br />
that we argue for the free exchange of knowledge and ideas, for open education,<br />
for self-determination and personal empowerment. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">These four principles form the essence of the design of the<br />
network - the reason, for example, we encourage participants to use their<br />
preferred technology (it would be a lot easier if everybody used WordPress). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">We are just now as a community beginning to understand what<br />
it means to say this. Consider 'learning analytics', for example, which is an<br />
attempt to learn about the learning process by examining a large body of data. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">What is learned in the process of learning analytics is not<br />
what is contained in individual bits of data - that would be ridiculous - but<br />
overall trends or patterns. What is learned, in other words, emerges from the<br />
data. The things we are learning today are very simple. In the future we expect<br />
to learn things that are rather more subtle and enlightening.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Let me now say a few words in closing about Generation 6<br />
and beyond.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">From my perspective, the first three generations of<br />
e-learning (and the web generally) represent a focus on documents, while the<br />
second three represent a focus on data. Sometimes people speak of the second<br />
set as a focus on the Semantic Web, and they would not be wrong. Data does not<br />
stand alone, the way documents do; the representation of any object is<br />
connected to the representation of any number of other objects, through shared<br />
features or properties, or by being related by some action or third party<br />
agency.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Indeed, if the first three generations are contents,<br />
networks and objects respectively, the second three generations are those very<br />
same things thought of as data: the CMS is content thought of as data, web 2.0<br />
is the network thought of as data, and the MOOC is the environment thought of<br />
as data. So what comes after data is pretty important, but I would say, it is<br />
also to a certain degree knowable, because it will have something to do with<br />
content, the network, and the environment.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Here's what I think it will be - indeed, here's what I've<br />
always thought it would be. The next three generations of web and learning<br />
technology will be based on the idea of flow. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Flow is what happens when your content and your data<br />
becomes unmanageable. Flow is what happens when all you can do is watch it as<br />
it goes by - it is too massive to store, it is too detailed to comprehend. Flow<br />
is when we cease to think of things like contents and communications and even<br />
people and environments as things and start thinking of them as (for lack of a<br />
better word) media - like the water in a river, like the electricity in our<br />
pipes, like the air in the sky.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">The first of these things that flow will be the outputs of<br />
learning (and other) analytics; they will be the distillation of the massive<br />
amounts of data, presented to us from various viewpoints and perspectives,<br />
always changing, always adapting, always fluid.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Inside the gRSShopper system I am working toward the<br />
development of the first sort of engines that capture and display this flow.<br />
gRSShopper creates a graph of all links, all interactions, all communications.<br />
I don't know what to do with it yet, but I think that the idea of comprehending<br />
the interactions between these distributed systems in a learning network is an<br />
important first step to understanding what is learned, how it is learned, and<br />
why it is learned. And with that, perhaps, we can take our understanding of<br />
online learning a step further.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">But that, perhaps, may take the efforts of another<br />
generation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA">Thank you.</span></div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-88136392987399243482015-01-07T07:54:00.001-08:002015-01-07T07:54:40.954-08:00How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and ExpertlyFrom time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much <br />
done. I, of course, aware of the many hours I have idled away doing <br />
nothing, demur. It feels like nothing special; I don't work harder, <br />
really, than most people. Nonetheless, these people do have a point. I <br />
am, in fact, a fairly prolific writer.<br /><br />
Part of it is tenacity. For example, I am writing this item as I wait <br />
for the internet to start working again in the Joburg airport departures<br />
area. But part of it is a simple strategy for writing you essays and <br />
articles quickly and expertly, a strategy that allows you to plan your <br />
entire essay as you write it, and thus to allow you to make your first <br />
draft your final draft. This article describes that strategy.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Begin by writing - in your head, at least - your second paragraph (that <br />
would be the one you just read, above). Your second paragraph will tell <br />
people what your essay says. Some people write abstracts or executive <br />
summaries in order to accomplish this task. But you don't need to do <br />
this. You are stating your entire essay or article in one paragraph. If <br />
you were writing a news article, you would call this paragraph the <br />
'lede'. A person could read just the one paragraph and know what you had<br />
to say.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
But how do you write this paragraph? Reporters will tell you that <br />
writing the lede is the hardest part of writing an article. Because if <br />
you don't know what the story is, you cannot write it in a single <br />
paragraph. A reporter will sift through the different ways of writing <br />
the story - the different angles - and find a way to tell it. You, <br />
because you are writing an article or essay, have more options.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
You have more options because there are four types of discursive <br />
writing. Each of these types has a distinct and easy structure, and once<br />
you know what sort of writing you are doing, the rest of the article <br />
almost writes itself. The four types of structure are: argument, <br />
explanation, definition, and description. So, as you think about writing<br />
your first paragraph, ask yourself, what sort of article are you <br />
writing. In this article, for example, I am writing a descriptive <br />
article.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
These are your choices of types of article or essay:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Argument</span>: convinces someone of something<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Explanation</span>: tells why something happened instead of something else<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Definition</span>: states what a word or concept means<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Description</span>: identifies properties or qualities of things<br /><br />
<br /><br />
An <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">argument</span> <br />
is a collection of sentences (known formally as 'propositions') intended<br />
to convince the reader that something is he case. Perhaps you want to <br />
convince people to take some action, to buy some product, to vote a <br />
certain way, or to believe a certain thing. The thing that you want to <br />
convince them to believe is the conclusion. In order to convince people,<br />
you need to offer one or more reasons. Those are the premises. So one <br />
type of article consists of premises leading to a conclusion, and that <br />
is how you would structure your first paragraph.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
An <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">explanation</span><br />
tells the reader why something is the case. It looks at some event or <br />
phenomenon, and shows the reader what sort of things led up to that <br />
event or phenomenon, what caused it to happen, why it came to be this <br />
way instead of some other way. An explanation, therefore, consists of <br />
three parts. First, you need to identify the thing being explained. <br />
Then, you need to identify the things that could have happened instead. <br />
And finally, you need to describe the conditions and principles that led<br />
to the one thing, and not the other, being the case. And so, if you are<br />
explaining something, this is how you would write your first paragraph.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
A <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">definition</span><br />
identifies the meaning of some word, phrase or concept. There are <br />
different ways to define something. You can define something using words<br />
and concepts you already know. Or you can define something by giving a <br />
name to something you can point to or describe. Or you can define <br />
something indirectly, by giving examples of telling stories. A <br />
definition always involves two parts: the word or concept being defined,<br />
and the set of sentences (or 'propositions') that do the defining. <br />
Whatever way you decide, this will be the structure of your article if <br />
you intend to define something.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Finally, a <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">description</span><br />
provides information about some object, person, or state of affairs. It<br />
will consist of a series of related sentences. The sentences will each <br />
identify the object being defined, and then ascribe some property to <br />
that object. "The ball is red," for example, were the ball is the object<br />
and 'red' is the property. Descriptions may be of 'unary properties' - <br />
like colour, shape, taste, and the like, or it may describe a relation <br />
between the object and one or more other objects.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Organizing Your Writing</span><br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>The set of sentences, meanwhile, will be organized on one of a few common ways. The sentences might be in <span style="font-style: italic;">chronological</span> order. "This happened, and then this happened," and so on. Or they may enumerate a <span style="font-style: italic;">set of properties</span> ('appearance', 'sound', 'taste', 'small', 'feeling about', and the like). Or they may be <span style="font-style: italic;">elements of a list</span> ("nine rules for good technology," say, or "ten things you should learn"). Or, like the reporters, you may cover <span style="font-style: italic;">the five W's</span>: who, what, where, when, why. Or the steps required to write an essay.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
When you elect to write an essay or article, then, you are going to <br />
write one of these types of writing. If you cannot decide which type, <br />
then your purpose isn't clear. Think about it, and make the choice, <br />
before continuing. Then you will know the major parts of the article - <br />
the premises, say, or the parts of the definition. Again, if you don't <br />
know these, your purpose isn't clear. Know what you want to say (in two <br />
or three sentences) before you decide to write.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
You may a this point be wondering what happened to the first paragraph. <br />
You are, after all, beginning with the second paragraph. The first <br />
paragraph is used to 'animate' your essay or article, to give it life <br />
and meaning and context. In my own writing, my animation is often a <br />
short story about myself showing how the topic is important to me. <br />
Animating paragraphs may express feelings - joy, happiness, sadness, or <br />
whatever. They may consist of short stories or examples of what you are <br />
trying to describe (this is very common in news articles). Animation may<br />
be placed into your essay at any point. But is generally most effective<br />
when introducing a topic, or when concluding a topic.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
For example, I have now concluded the first paragraph of my essay, and <br />
then expanded on it, thus ending the first major part of my essay. So <br />
now I could offer an example here, to illustrate my point in practice, <br />
and to give the reader a chance to reflect, and a way to experience some<br />
empathy, before proceeding. This is also a good place to offer a <br />
picture, diagram, illustration or chart of what you are trying to say in<br />
words.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Like this: the second paragraph sill consist of a set of statements. Here is what each of the four types look like:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Argument:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Premise 1<br /><br />
Premise 2 ... (and more, if needed)<br /><br />
Conclusion<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Explanation:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Thing being explained<br /><br />
Alternative possibilities<br /><br />
Actual explanation<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Definition:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Thing being defined<br /><br />
Actual definition<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Description:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Thing being described<br /><br />
Descriptive sentence<br /><br />
Descriptive sentence (and more, connected to the rest, as needed)<br /><br />
<br /><br />
So now the example should have made the concept clearer. You should <br />
easily see that your second paragraph will consist of two or more <br />
distinct sentences, depending on what you are trying to say. Now, all <br />
you need to do is to write the sentences. But also, you need to tell <br />
your reader which sentence is which. In an argument, for example, you <br />
need to clearly indicate to the reader which sentence is your conclusion<br />
and which sentences are your premises.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Indicator Words</span><br /><br />
<br /><br />
All four types of writing have their own indicator words. Let's look at <br />
each of the four types in more detail, and show (with examples, to <br />
animate!) the indicator words.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
As stated above, an argument will consist of a conclusion and some <br />
premises. The conclusion is the most important sentence, and so will <br />
typically be stated first. For example, "Blue is better than red." Then a<br />
premise indicator will be used, to tell the reader that what follows is<br />
a series of premises. Words like 'because' and 'since' are common <br />
premise indicators (there are more; you may want to make a list). So <br />
your first paragraph might look like this: "Blue is better than red, <span style="font-style: italic;">because</span> blue is darker than red, and all colours that are darker are better."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Sometimes, when the premises need to be stressed before the conclusion <br />
will be believed, the author will put the conclusion at the end of the <br />
paragraph. To do this, the author uses a conclusion indicator. Words <br />
like 'so' and 'therefore' and 'hence' are common conclusion indicators. <br />
Thus, for example, the paragraph might read: "Blue is darker than red, <br />
and all colours that are darker are better, <span style="font-style: italic;">so</span> blue is better than red."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
You should notice that indicator words like this help you understand <br />
someone else's writing more easily as well. Being able to spot the <br />
premises and the conclusion helps you spot the structure of their <br />
article or essay. Seeing the conclusion indicator, for example, tells <br />
you that you are looking at an argument, and helps you spot the <br />
conclusion. It is good practice to try spotting arguments in other <br />
writing, and to create arguments of your own, in our own writing.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Arguments</span> <br />
can also be identified by their form. There are different types of <br />
argument, which follow standard patterns of reasoning. These patterns of<br />
reasoning are indicated by the words being used. Here is a quick guide <br />
to the types of arguments:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Inductive argument</span>:<br />
the premise consists of a 'sample', such as a series of experiences, or<br />
experimental results, or polls. Watch for words describing these sorts <br />
of observation. The conclusion will be inferred as a generalization from<br />
these premises. Watch for words that indicate a statistical <br />
generalization, such as 'most', 'generally, 'usually', 'seventy <br />
percent', 'nine out of ten'. Also, watch for words that indicate a <br />
universal generalization, such as 'always' and 'all'.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
A special case of the inductive argument is the <span style="font-style: italic;">causal generalization</span>.<br />
If you want someone to believe that one thing causes another, then you <br />
need to show that there are many cases where the one thing was followed <br />
by the other, and also to show that when the one thing didn't happen, <br />
then the other didn't either. This establishes a 'correlation'. The <br />
argument becomes a causal argument when you appeal to some general <br />
principle or law of nature to explain the correlation. Notice how, in <br />
this case, an explanation forms one of the premises of the argument.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Deductive argument</span>: the premises consist of propositions, and the conclusion consists of some logical manipulation of the premises. A <span style="font-style: italic;">categorical</span><br />
argument, for example, consists of reasoning about sets of things, so <br />
watch for words like 'all', 'some' and 'none'. Many times, these words <br />
are implicit; they are not started, but they are implied. When I said <br />
"Blue is better than red" above, for example, I meant that "blue is <br />
always better than red," and that's how you would have understood it.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Another type of deductive argument is a <span style="font-style: italic;">propositional </span>argument.<br />
Propositional arguments are manipulations of sentences using the words <br />
'or', 'if', and 'and'. For example, if I said "Either red is best or <br />
blue is best, and red is not best, so blue is best," then I have <br />
employed a propositional argument.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
It is useful to learn the basic argument forms, so you can very clearly <br />
indicate which type of argument you are providing. This will make your <br />
writing clearer to the reader, and will help them evaluate your writing.<br />
And in addition, this will make easier for you to write your article.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
See how the previous paragraph is constructed, for example. I have <br />
stated a conclusion, then a premise indicator, and then a series of <br />
premises. It was very easy to writing the paragraph; I didn't even need <br />
to think about it. I just wrote something I thought was true, then <br />
provided a list of the reasons I thought it was true. How hard is that?<br /><br />
<br /><br />
In a similar manner, an <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">explanation</span><br />
will also use indicator words. In fact, the indicator words used by <br />
explanations are very similar to those that are used by arguments. For <br />
example, I might explain by saying "The grass is green because it rained<br />
yesterday." I am explaining why the grass is green. I am using the word<br />
'because' as an indicator. And my explanation is offered following the <br />
word 'because'.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
People often confuse arguments and explanations, because they use <br />
similar indicator words. So when you are writing, you can make your <br />
point clearer by using words that will generally be unique to <br />
explanations.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
In general, explanations are answers to 'why' questions. They consider <br />
why something happened 'instead of' something else. And usually, they <br />
will say that something was 'caused' by something else. So when offering<br />
an explanation, use these words as indicators. For example: "It rained <br />
yesterday. That's why the grass is green, instead of brown."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Almost all explanations are <span style="font-style: italic;">causal explanations,</span> but in some cases (especially when describing complex states and events) you will also appeal to a <span style="font-style: italic;">statistical explanation</span>.<br />
In essence, in a statistical explanation, you are saying, "it had to <br />
happen sometime, so that's why it happened now, but there's no reason, <br />
other than probability, why it happened this time instead o last time or<br />
next time." When people see somebody who was killed by lightening, and <br />
they say, "His number was just up," they are offering a statistical <br />
explanation.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Definitions</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>are<br />
trickier, because there are various types of definition. I will <br />
consider three types of definition: ostensive, lexical, and implicit.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
An '<span style="font-style: italic;">ostensive</span>' definition is an<br />
act of naming by pointing. You point to a dog and you say, "That's a <br />
dog." Do this enough times, and you have defined the concept of a dog. <br />
It's harder to point in text. But in text, a description amounts to the <br />
same thing as pointing. "The legs are shorter than the tail. The colour <br />
is brown, and the body is very long. That's what I mean by a 'wiener <br />
dog'." As you may have noticed, the description is followed by the <br />
indicator words "that's what I mean by". This makes it clear to the <br />
reader that you are defining by ostension.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
A '<span style="font-style: italic;">lexical</span>' definition is a <br />
definition one word or concept in terms of some other word or concept. <br />
Usually this is describes as providing the 'necessary and sufficient <br />
conditions' for being something. Another way of saying the same thing is<br />
to say that when you are defining a thing, you are saying that 'all and<br />
only' these things are the thing being defined. Yet another way of <br />
saying the same thing is to say that the thing belongs to such and such a<br />
category (all dogs are animals, or, a dog is necessarily an animal) and<br />
are distinguished from other members in such and such a way (only dogs <br />
pant, or, saying a thing is panting is sufficient to show that it is a <br />
dog).<br /><br />
<br /><br />
That may seem complicated, but the result is that a lexical definition <br />
has a very simply and easy to write form: A (thing being defined) is a <br />
type of (category) which is (distinguishing feature). For example, "A <br />
dog is an animal that pants."<br /><br />
<br /><br />
This sentence may look just like a description, so it is useful to <br />
indicate to the reader that you are defining the term 'dog', and not <br />
describing a dog. For example, "A 'dog' is defined as 'an animal that <br />
pants'." Notice how this is clearly a definition, and could not be <br />
confused as a mere description.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
The third type of definition is an <span style="font-style: italic;">implicit</span><br />
definition. This occurs when you don't point to things, and don't place<br />
the thing being defined into categories, but rather, list instances of <br />
the thing being defined. For example, "Civilization is when people are <br />
polite to each other. When people can trust the other person. When there<br />
is order in the streets." And so on. Or: "You know what I mean. Japan <br />
is civilized. Singapore is civilized. Canada is civilized." Here we <br />
haven't listed necessary and sufficient conditions, but rather, offered <br />
enough of a description as to allow people to recognize instances of <br />
'civilization' by their resemblance to the things being described.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Finally, the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">description</span><br />
employs the 'subject predicate object' form that you learned in school.<br />
The 'subject' is the thing being described. The 'predicate' is <br />
something that is true of the subject - some action it is undertaking, <br />
or, if the predicate is 'is', some property that it possesses. And the <br />
'object' may be some other entity that forms a part of the description.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
As mentioned, the sentences that form a description are related to each <br />
other. This relation is made explicit with a set of indicator words. For<br />
example, if the relation is chronological, the words might be <br />
'first'... 'and then'... 'and finally'...! Or, 'yesterday'... 'then <br />
today'... 'and tomorrow'...<br /><br />
<br /><br />
In this essay, the method employed was to identify a list of things - <br />
argument, explanation, definition, and description - and then to use <br />
each of these terms in the sequence. For example, "An argument will <br />
consist of a ..." Notice that I actually went through this list twice, <br />
first describing the parts of each of the four items, and then <br />
describing the indicator words used for each of the four items. Also, <br />
when I went through the list the second time, I offered for each type of<br />
sentence a subdivision. For example, I identified inductive and <br />
deductive arguments.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span><br /><br />
<br /><br />
So, now, here is the full set of types of things I have described (with indicator words in brackets):<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Argument (premise: 'since', 'because'; conclusion: 'therefore', 'so')<br /><br />
Deductive<br /><br />
Categorical ('all', 'only', 'no', 'none', 'some')<br /><br />
Propositional ('if', 'or', 'and')<br /><br />
Inductive<br /><br />
Generalization ('sample', 'poll', 'observation')<br /><br />
Statistical ('most', 'generally, 'usually', 'seventy percent', 'nine out of ten')<br /><br />
Universal ('always' and 'all')<br /><br />
Causal ('causes')<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Explanation ('why', 'instead of')<br /><br />
Causal ('caused')<br /><br />
Statistical ('percent', 'probability')<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Definition ('is a', 'is defined as')<br /><br />
Ostensive ( 'That's what I mean by...' )<br /><br />
Lexical ('All', 'Only', 'is a type of', 'is necessarily')<br /><br />
Implicit ('is a', 'for example')<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Description<br /><br />
Chronology ('yesterday', 'today')<br /><br />
Sensations ('seems', 'feels', 'appears', etc.,)<br /><br />
List ('first', 'second', etc.)<br /><br />
5 W's ('who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why')<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Complex Forms</span><br /><br />
<br /><br />
As you have seen in this article, each successive iteration (which has <br />
been followed by one of my tables) has been more and more detailed. You <br />
might ask how this is so, if there are only four types of article or <br />
essay.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
The point is, each sentence in one type of thing might be a whole set of<br />
sentence of another type of thing. This is most clearly illustrated by <br />
looking at an argument.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
An argument is a conclusion and some premises. Like this:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 1, and<br /><br />
Statement 2,<br /><br />
Thus,<br /><br />
Statement 3<br /><br />
<br /><br />
But each premise might in turn be the conclusion of another argument. Like this:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 4, and<br /><br />
Statement 5,<br /><br />
Thus,<br /><br />
Statement 1<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Which gives us a complex argument:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 4, and<br /><br />
Statement 5,<br /><br />
Thus, Statement 1<br /><br />
Statement 2<br /><br />
Thus Statement 3<br /><br />
<br /><br />
But this can be done with all four types of paragraph. For example, consider this:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 1 (which is actually a definition, with several parts)<br /><br />
Statement 2 (which is actually a description)<br /><br />
Thus,<br /><br />
Statement 3<br /><br />
<br /><br />
So, when you write your essay, you pick the main thing you want to say. For example:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Second paragraph:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 1, and<br /><br />
Statement 2<br /><br />
Thus<br /><br />
Statement 3<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Third paragraph:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 4 (thing being defined)<br /><br />
Statement 5 (properties)<br /><br />
Statement 1 (actual definition)<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Fourth Paragraph<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Statement 5 (first statement of description)<br /><br />
Statement 6 (second statement of description)<br /><br />
Statement 2 (summary of description)<br /><br />
<br /><br />
As you can see, each simple element of an essay - premise, for example -<br />
can become a complex part of an essay - the premise could be the <br />
conclusion of an argument, for example.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
And so, when you write your essay, you just go deeper and deeper into the structure.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
And you may ask: where does it stop?<br /><br />
<br /><br />
For me, it stops with descriptions - something I've seen or experienced,<br />
or a reference to a study or a paper. To someone else, it all reduces <br />
to definitions and axioms. For someone else, it might never stop.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
But you rarely get to the bottom. You simply go on until you've said <br />
enough. In essence, you give up, and hope the reader can continue the <br />
rest of the way on his or her own.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
And just so with this paper. I would now look at each one of each type <br />
of argument and explanation, for example, and identify more types, or <br />
describe features that make some good and some bad, or add many more <br />
examples and animations.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
But my time is up, I need to board my flight, so I'll stop here.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Nothing fancy at the end. Just a reminder, that this is how you can <br />
write great articles and essays, first draft, every time. Off the top of<br />
your head.<br />
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-39949208288153042142015-01-07T07:40:00.004-08:002015-01-07T07:40:47.379-08:00Research-based proof that students use cell phones for LEARNING <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A new </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">study</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> conducted by <a href="http://www.tru-insight.com/">TRU</a>
provides a body of research which supports the idea that students use
cell phones to learn, and also that schools are not acknowledging or
supporting them fully, yet. This research supports the work of
innovative educators who are guiding today’s generation text and will
help in the effort of getting more schools to stop fighting and start
embracing student use of mobile devices for learning in school. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rather
than banning, the study highlights the fact that if we meet children
where they are we can leverage their use of mobile devices for powerful
lear</span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><h3 dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ning</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></b></h3>
</b></b></b></h3>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The
research supports the fact that mobile technology can inspire and
engage students by letting them lead their learning and supporting them
in choosing and using the devices they know, love, and prefer. The </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">study</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
reveals that whether allowed to use their devices in school or not,
students are moving forward and using them for learning even if their
school is lagging behind in embracing student-owned devices.</span></b><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kids FINALLY have a case for why they really </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">need</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
mobile devices to learn. The survey is the first of its kind and
examines how middle school students are using mobile devices, revealing
that these tools are actually helping kids learn math and science
better, and increasing their confidence and motivation, despite the fact
that most schools (88%) strictly forbid their use for learning.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.6574605295900255" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite
the perception by some parents and teachers that cell phones are
distracting to kids, this national study proves that children deserve
more credit as 1 in 3 are using their devices to complete homework and
learn better.</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are some of the most exciting findings from the study:</span></b><br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"An
unexpected number of middle school students (from all ethnicities and
incomes) say they are using mobile devices including smartphones and
tablets to do their homework. Previous TRU research indicated that
middle school students are using smartphones and tablets for
communication and entertainment. However, this is the first TRU research
that shows that middle school students are also using these mobile
devices to complete homework assignments. </span></li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; margin-left: -47px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More than one out of three middle school students report they are using smartphones (39%) and tablets (31%) to do homework.</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; margin-left: -47px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More than 1 in 4 students ( 26 %) are using smartphones for their homework, weekly or more.</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; margin-left: -47px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hispanic
and African American middle school students are using the smartphones
for homework more than Caucasian students. Nearly one half of all
Hispanic middle school students (49%) report using smartphones for
homework. Smartphone use for homework also crosses income levels with
nearly one in three (29%) of students from the lowest income households
reporting smartphone usage to do their homework assignments. </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (a quota was set to ensure a minimum of 200 respondents with a household income of $25,000 or less.)</span></li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite
the high numbers of middle school students using laptops, smartphones
and tablets for homework, very few are using these mobile devices in the
classroom, particularly tablets and smartphones. A large gap exists
between mobile technology use at home and in school.</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where
39% of middle school students use smartphones for homework, only 6%
report that they can use the smartphone in classroom for school work.
There is also a gap in tablet use. Although 31% of middle school
students say they use a tablet for homework, only 18% report using it in
the classroom. </span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">66% of students are not allowed to use a tablet for learning purposes in the classroom, and 88% are not allowed to use a phone.</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Students say using mobile devices like tablets makes them want to learn more.</span></li>
</b></ul>
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</b>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A
significant opportunity appears to exist for middle schools to more
deeply engage students by increasing their use of mobile devices in the
classroom.</span></li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Access
to mobile devices at home is high among this group, and students are
already turning to these devices to complete homework assignments.
Therefore, it is only natural and highly beneficial for students to
extend this mobile device usage into the classroom.</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teacher
education and training on the effective integration of mobile
technologies into instruction may provide significant benefits for all.
Mobile device usage in class appears to have the potential to sustain,
if not increase interest in STEM subjects as students progress into high
school.</span></li>
</ul>
</b></ul>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s
time to spread the world and ensure educators know the wealth of ways
to safely, ethically, and effectively utilize the power of mobile
technology with students for homework and IN the classroom. For ideas
and support in using cell phones for learning check out </span><a href="http://www.teachinggenerationtext.com/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b7fb4; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teaching Generation Text: Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Survey Methodology</span></b><br />
<div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.48999036266468465" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Verizon Foundation </span></b></b></span></b></span></b></h3>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">commissioned
TRU to conduct quantitative research on middle school students’ use of
technology. TRU conducted 1,000 online interviews among sixth- to
eighth-grade students, ages 11-14, yielding a margin of error of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">+</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
3.0 percentage points. A quota was set to ensure a minimum of 200
respondents with a household income of $25,000 or less. Unless
otherwise noted, all reported data is based on a statistically reliable
base size of n=100 or greater.</span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TRU <span style="font-weight: normal;">is
the global leader in youth research and insights, focusing on tweens,
teens and twenty-somethings. For more than 25 years, TRU has provided
the insights that have helped many of the world's most successful
companies and organizations develop meaningful connections with young
people. As an advocate for young people, TRU has provided critical
direction for many of the nation’s most prominent and successful
social-marketing campaigns, helping to keep young people safe and
healthy. TRU’s work has made a difference – from being put to use at the
grass-roots level to being presented at the very highest levels of
government.</span></span></b></div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-66637164654906567312015-01-07T07:32:00.002-08:002015-01-07T07:32:59.919-08:00Statistical Analysis of Data<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What is statistics?</b></div>
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Latin “status”---political state—info useful to state (size of population, armed forces etc)</div>
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A branch of mathematics concerned with understanding and summarizing collections of numbers</div>
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A collection of numerical facts systematically arranged</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Descriptive Statistics</b></div>
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Statistics which describe attributes of a sample or population. </div>
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Includes
measures of central tendency statistics (e.g., mean, median, mode),
frequencies, percentages. Minimum, maximum, and range for a data set,
variance etc.</div>
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Organize and summaries a set of data </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inferential Statistics</b></div>
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Used
to make inferences or judgments about a larger population based on the
data collected from a small sample drawn from the population. </div>
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A key component of inferential statistics is the calculation of statistical significance of a research finding. </div>
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1. Involves</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Estimation </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Hypothesis Testing</div>
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2. Purpose</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Make Decisions About Population Characteristics</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Key Terms</b></div>
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1. Population (Universe)</div>
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All Items of Interest</div>
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2. Sample</div>
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Portion of Population</div>
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3. Parameter</div>
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Summary Measure about Population</div>
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4. Statistic</div>
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Summary Measure about Sample</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 6</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Key Terms</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Parameter:</b></div>
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A characteristic of the population. Denoted with Greek letters such as <span style="font-family: Symbol;">m</span> or </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Statistic:</b></div>
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A characteristic of a sample. Denoted with English letters such as X or S.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sampling Error:</b></div>
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Describes the amount of error that exists between a sample statistic and corresponding population parameter</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 7</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 8</b></div>
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Some Notations…<br />
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Population</div>
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All items under consideration by researcher</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">m</span> = population mean</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">s</span> = population standard </div>
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deviation</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">N</span> = population size</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">p</span> = population percentage</div>
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Sample</div>
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A portion of the population selected for study</div>
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x = sample mean</div>
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s = sample standard </div>
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deviation</div>
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n = sample size</div>
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p = sample percentage</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Descriptive & Inferential Statistics (DS & IS)</b></div>
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DS gather information about a population characteristic (e.g. income) and describe it with a parameter of interest (e.g. mean)</div>
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IS uses the parameter to test a hypothesis pertaining to that characteristic. E.g.</div>
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Ho: mean income = UD 4,000</div>
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H1: mean income < UD 4,000)</div>
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The result for hypothesis testing is used to make inference about the characteristic of interest (e.g. Americans <span style="font-family: Symbol;">®</span> upper middle income)</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Examples of Descriptive and Inferential Statistics</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics</b></div>
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-Arrange data in tables * Margin of error</div>
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-Bar graphs and pie charts * Compare means of two samples</div>
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-Percentages - t Test</div>
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-Averages * Compare means from three samples</div>
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-Range - Pre/post and follow-up</div>
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-Correlation coefficient - Levels of Measurement</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
-Regression analysis</div>
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<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 11</b></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Another characteristic of data, which determines which statistical calculations are meaningful</b></div>
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<b>Nominal: </b>Qualitative
data only; categories of names, labels, or qualities; Can’t be ordered
(i.e, best to worst) ex: Survey responses of Yes/No</div>
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<b>Ordinal:</b> Qualitative/quantitative; can be ordered, but no meaningful subtractions: ex. Grades A, B, C, D, F </div>
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<b>Interval:</b> Quantitative only; meaningful subtractions but not ratios, zero is only a position (not “none”) ex: Temperatures</div>
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<b>Ratio:</b> Quantitative only, meaningful subtractions and ratios; zero represents “none” ex. Weights of babies</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 12</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Measures of Central Tendency</b></div>
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“Say
you were standing with one foot in the oven and one foot in an ice
bucket. According to the average, you should be perfectly comfortable.”</div>
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The mode – applies to ratio, interval, ordinal or nominal scales.</div>
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The median – applies to ratio, interval and ordinal scales</div>
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The mean – applies to ratio and interval scales</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 13</b></div>
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<br />
</div>
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Measuring Variability</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Range:</u></b> lowest to highest score</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Average Deviation</u></b>: average distance from the mean</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Variance:</u></b> average squared distance from the mean</div>
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Used in later inferential statistics</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Standard Deviation:</u></b> square root of variance</div>
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expressed on the same scale as the mean</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 13</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Parametric statistics</b></div>
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Statistical analysis that attempts to explain the population parameter using a sample </div>
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E.g. of statistical parameters: mean, variance, std. dev., R2, t-value, F-ratio, <span style="font-family: Symbol;">r</span>xy, etc. </div>
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It
assumes that the distributions of the variables being assessed belong
to known parameterized families of probability distributions </div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Slide 14</b></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Frequencies and Distributions</b></div>
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Frequency-A
frequency is the number of times a value is observed in a distribution
or the number of times a particular event occurs.</div>
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Distribution-When
the observed values are arranged in order they are called a rank order
distribution or an array. Distributions demonstrate how the frequencies
of observations are distributed across a range of values.</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mode</b></div>
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Defined as the most frequent value (the peak)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.75in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Applies to ratio, interval, ordinal and nominal scales</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.75in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Sensitive to sampling error (noise)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Distributions may be referred to as uni modal, bimodal or multimodal, depending upon the number of peaks</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Median</b></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Defined as the 50th percentile</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Applies to ratio, interval and ordinal scales</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Can be used for open-ended distributions</li>
</ul>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mean</b></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
<br />
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Applies only to ratio or interval scales</div>
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Sensitive to outliers</div>
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How to find?</div>
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Mean – the average of a group of numbers.</div>
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2, 5, 2, 1, 5</div>
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Mean = 3</div>
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Mean is found by evening out the numbers</div>
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2, 5, 2, 1, 5</div>
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<br />
</div>
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2, 5, 2, 1, 5</div>
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<br />
</div>
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2, 5, 2, 1, 5</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
mean = 3</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Find the Mean of a Group of Numbers</b></div>
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<br />
</div>
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Step 1 – Add all the numbers.</div>
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8, 10, 12, 18, 22, 26</div>
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<br />
</div>
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8+10+12+18+22+26 = 96</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Step 2 – Divide the sum by the number of addends.</div>
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8, 10, 12, 18, 22, 26</div>
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8+10+12+18+22+26 = 96</div>
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How many addends are there?</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Step 2 – Divide the sum by the number of addends.</div>
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16</div>
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The mean or average of these numbers is 16.</div>
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8, 10, 12, 18, 22, 26</div>
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What is the mean of these numbers?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7, 10, 16</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11</div>
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26, 33, 41, 52</div>
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38</div>
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Median<br />
is in the<br />
Middle<br />
</div>
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Median – the middle number in a set of ordered numbers.</div>
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1, 3, 7, 10, 13</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Median = 7</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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How to Find the Median in a Group of Numbers</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 1 – Arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest.</div>
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21, 18, 24, 19, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 19, 21, 24, 27</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Step 2 – Find the middle number.</div>
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21, 18, 24, 19, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 19, 21, 24, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is your median number.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Step 3 – If there are two middle numbers, find the mean of these two numbers.</div>
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18, 19, 21, 25, 27, 28</div>
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<br />
</div>
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When to use this measure?</div>
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<br />
</div>
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With a non-normal distribution, the median is appropriate</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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21+ 25 = 46</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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What is the median of these numbers?</div>
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16, 10, 7</div>
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7, 10, 16</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
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29, 8, 4, 11, 19</div>
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4, 8, 11, 19, 29</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11</div>
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<br />
</div>
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31, 7, 2, 12, 14, 19</div>
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2, 7, 12, 14, 19, 31 13</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
12 + 14 = 26 2) 26</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
26</div>
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Mode<br />
is the most<br />
Popular<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mode – the number that appears most frequently in a set of numbers.</div>
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1, 1, 3, 7, 10, 13</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mode = 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How to Find the Mode in a Group of Numbers</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 1 – Arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest.</div>
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21, 18, 24, 19, 18</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 18, 19, 21, 24</div>
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Step 2 – Find the number that is repeated the most.</div>
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21, 18, 24, 19, 18</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 18, 19, 21, 24</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which number is the mode?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1, 2, 2, 9, 9, 4, 9, 10</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1, 2, 2, 4, 9, 9, 9, 10</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When to use this measure?</b></div>
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If your data is nominal, you may use the mode and range</div>
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Using all three measures provides a more complete picture of the characteristics of your sample set.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Measures of Variability (Dispersion)</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Range – applies to ratio, interval, ordinal scales</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Semi-interquartile range – applies to ratio, interval, ordinal scales</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variance (standard deviation) – applies to ratio, interval scales</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Understanding the variation<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The more the data is spread out, the larger the range, variance, SD and SE (Low precision and accuracy)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
more concentrated the data (precise or homogenous), the smaller the
range, variance, and standard deviation (high precision and accuracy)</div>
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If all the observations are the same, the range, variance, and standard deviation = 0</div>
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None of these measures can be negative</div>
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Two distant means with little variations are more likely to be significantly different and vice versa</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Range</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Interval between lowest and highest values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Generally unreliable – changing one value (highest or lowest) can cause large change in range.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Range<br />
is the distance<br />
Between<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Range – the difference between the greatest and the least value in a set of numbers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1, 1, 3, 7, 10, 13</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Range = 12</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What is the range?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
22, 21, 27, 31, 21, 32</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21, 21, 22, 27, 31, 32</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
32 – 21 = 11</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Find the Range in a Group of Numbers</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 1 – Arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21, 18, 24, 19, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 19, 21, 24, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 2 – Find the lowest and highest numbers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21, 18, 24, 19, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 19, 21, 24, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 3 – Find the difference between these 2 numbers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18, 19, 21, 24, 27</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
27 – 18 = 9</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The range is 9</div>
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Mid-range: Average of the smallest and largest observations</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Measure of relative position</div>
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Percentiles and Percentile Ranks</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Percentile: The score at or below which a given % of scores lie.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Percentile Rank: The percentage of scores at or below a given score</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mid-hinge: The average of the first and third quartiles.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Quartiles: </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Observations that divide data into four equal parts.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First Quartile (Q1)</b></div>
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Semi-Interquartile Range</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The interquartile range is the interval between the first and third quartile, i.e. between the 25th and 75th percentile.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The semi-inter quartile range is half the interquartile range.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Can be used with open-ended distributions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unaffected by extreme scores</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example1: the third quartile of students in the Biometry class = ¾ X 36 = 27th item</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example 2: 60th percentile of the class would be 60/100*36 = 21.6 = 22nd item (round off)</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inter-quartile range/deviation </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Mid-spread):
Difference between the Third and the First Quartiles, therefore,
considers data of central half and ignores the extreme values<br />
<br />
Inter-quartile Range = Q3 - Q1<br />
<br />
Quartile deviation = (Q3 - Q1)/2</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Quartile Deviation<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Measures the dispersion of the middle 50% of the distribution</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- rank the data</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- calculate upper and lower quartiles (UQ & LQ)</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Number Sample sorted Values </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 27 </div>
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3 20 </div>
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4 23 </div>
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5 26 </div>
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6 24 </div>
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7 19 </div>
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8 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10 18 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11 30 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
12 29 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
13 32 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
14 26 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
15 24 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
16 21 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
17 28 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18 27 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
19 20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
20 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21 14</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Number Sample Sorted Values Ranked Values </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 25 14 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 27 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 20 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 23 18 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5 26 19 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6 24 20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7 19 20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8 16 21 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9 25 23 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10 18 24 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11 30 24 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
12 29 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
13 32 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
14 26 26 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
15 24 26 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
16 21 27 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
17 28 27 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18 27 28 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
19 20 29 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
20 16 30 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21 14 32 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number Sample sorted Values Ranked Values </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 25 14 LL </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 27 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 20 16 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 23 18 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5 26 19 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6 24 20 LQ or Q1 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7 19 20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8 16 21 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9 25 23 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10 18 24 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11 30 24 Md or Q2 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
12 29 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
13 32 25 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
14 26 26 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
15 24 26 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
16 21 27 UQ or Q3 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
17 28 27 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18 27 28 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
19 20 29 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
20 16 30 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21 14 32 UL</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Variance<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variance is the average of the squared deviations</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Closely related to the standard deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to eliminate negative sign, deviations are squared (squared units e.g. m2)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
v = s2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variance (for a sample)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steps:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Compute each deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Square each deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sum all the squares</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Divide by the data size (sample size) minus one: n-1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example of Variance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variance = 54/9 = 6 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is a measure of “spread”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Notice that the larger the deviations (positive or negative) the larger the variance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Population Variance and Standard Deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sample Variance and Standard Deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The standard deviation<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is defines as the square root of the variance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standard deviation (SD):</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Positive square root of the variance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SD = + √ <span style="font-family: Symbol;">S</span>(y-ў)2÷ n</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variance and standard deviation are </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
useful for probability and hypothesis testing, therefore, is widely used unlike mean deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Population parameters and sample statistics<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we are working with samples, the calculation under-estimates the variance and SD which is biased </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore, instead of using n, n-1 (degrees of freedom) is used for sample, e.g.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standard Deviation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
Example: {4, 7, 6, 3, 8, 6, 7, 4, 5, 3}</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Measure of relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Definitions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation is a statistical technique</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that is used to measure a relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between two variables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation requires two scores from</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
each individual (one score from each</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of the two variables)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation Coefficients<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A correlation coefficient is a statistic
that indicates the strength & direction of the relationship b/w 2
variables (or more) for 1 group of participants</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another definition – specifically for Spearman’s rho:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman’s
correlation coefficient is a standardized measure of the strength of
relationship b/w 2 variables that does not rely on the assumptions of a
parametric test (nonparametric data)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Uses Pearson’s correlation coefficient performed on data that have been converted into ranked scores</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Distinguishing Characteristics of<br />
Correlation<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation procedures involve one</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
sample containing all pairs of X and Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
scores</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neither variable is called the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
independent or dependent variable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use the individual pair of scores to</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
create a scatter plot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The scatter plot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation and causality<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact that there is a relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between two variables does not mean that</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
changes in one variable cause the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
changes in the other variable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A statistical relationship can exist even though one variable does not cause or influence the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation research cannot be used to</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
infer causal relationships between two variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the following examples<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� example 1 - correlation coefficient =1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� example 2 - correlation coefficient =-1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� example 3 - correlation coefficient =0</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� the correlation coefficient for the parametric case is called the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
paired values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A 3 6 9 12 15</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
B 1 2 3 4 5</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� variable A (income of family) (1000 pounds)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� variable B (# of cars owned)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
��
here is a perfect and positive correlation as one variate increases in
precisely the same proportion as the other variate increases</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example 2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
paired values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A 3 6 9 12 15</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
B 5 4 3 2 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� variable A (income of family) (100</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
pounds)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
�� variable B (# of children)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
��
here is a perfect and negative correlation as one variate decreases in
precisely the same proportion as the other variate increases</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example 3<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
paired values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A 3 6 9 12 15</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
B 4 1 3 5 2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variable A (income of family)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variable B (last number of postal code)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
here there is almost no correlation because one</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variate does not systematically change with the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
other. Any association is caused by A and B being</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
randomly distributed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation coefficients provide a single numerical value to represent the relationship b/w the 2 variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation coefficients ranges -1 to +1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-1.00 (negative one) a perfect, inverse relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
+1.00 (positive one) a perfect, direct relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
0.00 indicates no relationship </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Graphic Representations of Correlation<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The form of the relationship<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
a linear relationship as the X scores increase the Y scores tend to
change in one direction only and can be summarised by a straight line</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
a non-linear or curvilinear relationship as the X scores change the Y
scores do not tend to only increase or only decrease: the Y scores
change their direction of change</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Computing a correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alternative Formula for the Correlation Coefficient</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Computing a Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Non-linearity</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 Types of Correlation Coefficient Tests</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1)Pearson r</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Full name is “Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r (lower case r & italicized) is the
statistic (fact/piece of data obtained from a study of a large quantity
of num. data) for this test</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2)Spearman’s rho</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Full name is “Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rho (lower case rho & italicized) is the statistic for this test</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation Coefficients & Strength</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Strength of relationship is one thing a correlation coefficient test can tell us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rule of Thumb for strength size (generally)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A correlation coefficient (r or rho)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Value of 0.00 indicates “no relationship”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Values b/w .01 & .24 may be called “weak”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Values b/w .25 & .49 may be called “moderate”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Values b/w .50 & .74 may be called “moderately strong”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Values b/w .75 and .99 may be called “strong”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A value of 1.00 is called “perfect”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Describing strength of relationships with positive or negative values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is true in the positive is true in the negative</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ex:
values b/w .75 & .99 are “very strong” & values b/w -.75 &
-.99 are “very strong” though it is an inverse relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correlation Coefficients &Scatterplots<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scatterplots used to visually show trend of data</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tells us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If relationship indicated</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kind of relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outliers – cases differing from general trend </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Graph may indicate direction, strength, and/or relationship of two variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
NOTE</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is ESSENTIAL to plot a scatter plot before conducting correlation analysis </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If no relationship found in scatter plot,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No need to conduct correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When to Use Pearson r</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use Pearson r when:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking at relationship b/w 2 scale variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Interval or ratio measurements</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Data not highly skewed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distribution of scores is approximately symmetrical</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Relationship b/w variables is linear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When to Use Spearman’s rho</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use Spearman’s rho when:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One or both variables are ordinal</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ex: college degree, weight, or height given ranking order (i.e. 1 = lightest, 2 = middle, 3 = heaviest)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One or both sets of data are highly skewed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distributions are not symmetrical</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Relationship is not curvilinear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As determined in examination of scatter plot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rank Order Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This correlation coefficient is simply the Pearson r calculated on the rankings of the X and Y variables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because ranks of N objects are the integers from 1 to N, the sums and sums of squares are known (provided there are no ties).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spearman Rank Order Correlation</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rank Order Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rank Order Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since
we know the sum of the scores and the sum of their squares, we
automatically know the variance of the integers from 1 to N.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rank Order Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suppose we compute it with N in the denominator instead of </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rank Order Correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Different Scales, Different Measures of Association</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Used to describe the linear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
relationship between two variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that are both interval or ratio variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The symbol for Pearson’s correlation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
coefficient is r</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The underlying principle of r is that it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
compares how consistently each Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
value is paired with each X value in a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
linear fashion</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Pearson Correlation formula</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
degree to which X and Y vary together</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r = ---------------------------------------------------</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
degree to which X and Y vary separately</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Co-variability of X and Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= -----------------------------------------</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variability of X and Y separately</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
∑XY-(∑X)(∑Y)/N</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r = -----------------------------------------</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
√ (∑X*2 –(∑X) *2/N) (∑Y*2 –(∑Y) *2/N) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Degree of freedom=N-2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sum of Product Deviations<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have used the sum of</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
squares or SS to measure the amount</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of variation or variability for a single</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sum of products or SP provides a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
parallel procedure for measuring the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
amount of co variation or co variability</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between two variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Definitional Formula<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SS =Σ (X- x)(X -x)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or =Σ (Y -y)(Y -y)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Note :</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SP =Σ (X -x)(Y- y)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
X Y XY</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 3 3</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 6 12</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 4 16</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5 7 35</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ΣX=12 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ΣY=20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ΣXY=66</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Substituting:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SP = 66 - 12(20)/4</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 66 - 60</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 6</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Calculation of Pearson’s<br />
Correlation Coefficient<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pearson’s correlation coefficient is a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ratio comparing the co variability of X</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and Y (the numerator) with the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variability of X and Y separately (the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
denominator)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SP
measures the co variability of X and Y The variability of X and Y is
measured by calculating the SS for X and Y scores separately</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pearson correlation coefficient</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r = SP / √ SS X SS Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
X Y X-X Y-Y (X-X)(Y-Y) (X-X)2 (Y-Y)2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
0 1 -6 -1 +6 36 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10 3 +4 +1 +4 16 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 1 -2 -1 +2 4 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8 2 +2 0 0 4 0</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8 3 +2 +1 +2 4 1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SP = 6+4+2+0+2 = 14</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SSX = 36+16+4+4+4 = 64</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SSY = 1+1+1+0+1</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r = SP / √ SS X SS Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
r= 14/√ 64 * 4</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
14 ÷ 16</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= + 0.875</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inferential statistics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regression</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regression. The best fit line of prediction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Using a correlation (relationship between variables) to predict one variable from knowing the score on the other variable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Usually a linear regression (finding the best fitting straight line for the data)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Best illustrated in a scatter plot with the regression line also plotted</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The scatter plot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In correlation data, it is sometimes useful to</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
regard one variable as an independent variable and the other as a dependent variable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In these circumstances, a linear relationship</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between two variables X and Y can be</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
expressed by the equation Y=bX + a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where Y is the dependent variable, X the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
independent variable and b and a are</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
constants</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the general linear equation the value of</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
b is called the slope</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The slope determines how much the Y</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
variable will change when X is increased</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
by one point</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The value of a in the general equation is</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
called the Y-intercept(cutting the graph)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It determines the value of Y when X=0</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A
regression is a statistical method for studying the relationship
between a single dependent variable and one or more independent
variables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In its simplest form a regression specifies a linear relationship between the dependent and independent variables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yi = b0 + b1 X1i + b2 X2i + ei</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
for a given set of observations</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the social sciences, a regression is generally used to represent a causal process. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Y represents the dependent variable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
B0 is the intercept (it represents the predicted value of Y if X1 and X2 equal zero.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
X1 and X2 are the independent variables (also called predictors or regressors) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
b1
and b2 are called the regression coefficients and provide a measure of
the effect of the independent variables on Y (they measure the slope of
the line)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
e is the stuff not explained by the causal model.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why use regression?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regression is used as a way of testing hypotheses about causal relationships.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Specifically,
we have hypotheses about whether the independent variables have a
positive or a negative effect on the dependent variable. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just
like in our hypothesis tests about variable means, we also would like
to be able to judge how confident we are in our inferences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standard Error of Estimate<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A regression equation, by itself,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
allows you to make predictions, but it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
does not provide any information</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
about the accuracy of the predictions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The standard error of estimate gives a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
measure of the standard distance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between a regression line and the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
actual data points</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To calculate the standard error of estimate</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Find a sum of squared deviations (SS)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each deviation will measure the distance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between the actual Y value (data) and the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
predicted Ŷ value (regression line)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This sum of squares is commonly called</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SSerror</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Definition of Standard Error</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
standard deviation of the sampling distribution is the standard error.
For the mean, it indicates the average distance of the statistic from
the parameter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example of Height</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raw Data vs. Sampling Distribution</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Formula: Standard Error of Mean</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To compute the SEM, use:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For our Example:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standard Error (SE)<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has become popular recently</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Researchers often misunderstand and mis- use SE</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Variability of observations is SD while variability of 2 or more sample means is SE</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore, often called “Standard error of the means” and SD of a set of observations or a population</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Covariance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When
two variables covary in opposite directions, as smoking and lung
capacity do, values tend to be on opposite sides of the group mean.
That is, when smoking is above its group mean, lung capacity tends to be
below its group mean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consequently, by averaging the product of deviation scores, we can obtain a measure of how the variables vary together.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Sample Covariance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead of averaging by dividing by N, we divide by . The resulting formula is</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Calculating Covariance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Calculating Covariance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So we obtain</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is Analysis of Variance?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ANOVA is an inferential test designed for use with 3 or more data sets</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
t-tests are just a form of ANOVA for 2 groups</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ANOVA only interested in establishing the existence of a statistical differences, not their direction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Based upon an F value (R. A. Fisher) which reflects the ratio between systematic and random/error variance…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Procedure for computing 1-way ANOVA for independent samples </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 1: Complete the table</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
i.e.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-square each raw score</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-total the raw scores for each group</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-total the squared scores for each group.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 2: Calculate the Grand Total correction factor</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
GT =</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
=</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 3: Compute total Sum of Squares </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SStotal= <span style="font-family: Symbol;">å</span>X2 - GT</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= (<span style="font-family: Symbol;">å</span>XA2+XB2+XC2) - GT</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 4: Compute between groups Sum of Squares </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SSbet= - GT</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= + + - GT</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 5: Compute within groups Sum of Squares </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SSwit= SStotal - SSbet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 6: Determine the d.f for each sum of squares </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
dftotal= (N - 1)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
dfbet= (k - 1)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
dfwit= (N - k)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 7/8: Estimate the Variances & Compute F </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
=</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
=</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 9: Consult F distribution table </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-d1 is your df for the numerator (i.e. systematic variance)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-d2
is your df for
the
denominator
(i.e. error variance) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Statistical Decision Process</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Type I error – rejecting a true null hypothesis. (treatment has an effect when in fact the treatment has no effect)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alpha level for a hypothesis test is the probability that the test will lead to a Type I error</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alpha and Probability Values<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
level of significance that is selected prior to data collection for
accepting or rejecting a null hypothesis is called alpha. The level of
significance actually obtained after the data have been collected and
analyzed is called the probability value, and is indicated by the symbol
p.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inferential Statistics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Level
of significance. The second determinant of statistical power is the p
value at which the null hypothesis is to be rejected. Statistical power
can be increased by lowering the level of significance needed to reject
the null hypothesis.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Error Types</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example - Efficacy Test for New drug</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Type
I error - Concluding that the new drug is better than the standard (HA)
when in fact it is no better (H0). Ineffective drug is deemed better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Type II error - Failing to conclude that
the new drug is better (HA) when in fact it is. Effective drug is deemed
to be no better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Non- parametric statistics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Non-parametric methods</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So far we assumed that our samples were drawn from normally distributed populations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
techniques that do not make that assumption are called distribution-free or nonparametric tests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
situations where the normal assumption is appropriate, nonparametric
tests are less efficient than traditional parametric methods.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nonparametric tests frequently make use only of the order of the observations and not the actual values.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Usually do not state hypotheses in terms of a specific parameter</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They make vary few assumptions about the population distribution- distribution-free tests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suited for data measured in ordinal and nominal scales</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not as sensitive as parametric tests; more likely to fail in detecting a real difference between two treatments</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Statistical analysis that attempts to
explain the population parameter using a sample without making
assumption about the frequency distribution of the assessed variable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other words, the variable being assessed is distribution-free</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Types of nonparametric tests</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chi-square
statistic tests for Goodness of Fit (how well the obtained sample
proportions fit the population proportions specified by the null
hypothesis</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Test for independence – tests whether or not there is a relationship between two variables</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Non-Parametric Methods<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spearman Rho Rank Order Correlation Coefficient</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To calculate the Spearman rho:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rank the observations on each variable from lowest to highest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tied observations are assigned the average of the ranks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The difference between the ranks on the X and Y variables are summed and squared:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rrho = 1 – [(6<span style="font-family: Symbol;">å</span>D2)/ n (n2 – 1)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is there a relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and severity of illness?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The null and alternative hypotheses are:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
HO: There is no relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and severity of illness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
HA: This is a relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and severity of illness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">a</span> = .05</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rrho = 1 – [(6<span style="font-family: Symbol;">å</span>D2)/ n (n2 – 1)]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 1 – [6(24) / 8(64-1)]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= .71</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
tcalc = 2.49</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
tcrit = 2.447, df = 6, p = .05</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since
the calculated t is > the critical value of t, we reject the null
hypothesis and conclude that there is a statistically significant
positive relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and
severity of illness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use:A non-parametric procedure that we can use to assess the relationship between variables is the Spearman rho.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Goodness of Fit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chi-square test is a “goodness of fit” test</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
it answers the question of how well do experimental data fit expectations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As an example, you count F2 offspring, and get 290 purple and 110 white flowers. This is a total of 400 (290 + 110) offspring.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We
expect a 3/4 : 1/4 ratio. We need to calculate the expected numbers
(you MUST use the numbers of offspring, NOT the proportion!!!); this is
done by multiplying the total offspring by the expected proportions.
This we expect 400 * 3/4 = 300 purple, and 400 * 1/4 = 100 white. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus, for purple, obs = 290 and exp = 300. For white, obs = 110 and exp = 100.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chi square formula</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now it's just a matter of plugging into the formula: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 = (290 - 300)2 / 300 + (110 - 100)2 / 100 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= (-10)2 / 300 + (10)2 / 100 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 100 / 300 + 100 / 100 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 0.333 + 1.000 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
= 1.333. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is our chi-square value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
State H0 H0 : 120</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
State H1 H1 : <span style="font-family: Symbol;">¹</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Choose = 0.05</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Choose n n = 100</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Choose Test: Z, t, X2 Test (or p Value) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Compute Test Statistic (or compute P value) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Search for Critical Value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Make Statistical Decision rule</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Express Decision </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steps in Test of Hypothesis</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Determine the appropriate test </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Establish the level of significance:α</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Formulate the statistical hypothesis</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Calculate the test statistic</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Determine the degree of freedom</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Compare computed test statistic against a tabled/critical value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Determine Appropriate Test</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chi Square is used when both variables are measured on a nominal scale.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It can be applied to interval or ratio data that have been categorized into a small number of groups.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It assumes that the observations are randomly sampled from the population.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All observations are independent (an individual can appear only once in a table and there are no overlapping categories).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It does not make any assumptions about the shape of the distribution nor about the homogeneity of variances.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Establish Level of Significance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
α is a predetermined value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The convention</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
α = .05</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
α = .01 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
α = .001</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Determine The Hypothesis:<br />
Whether There is an Association or Not</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ho : The two variables are independent</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ha : The two variables are associated</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Calculating Test Statistics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Determine Degrees of Freedom</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
df = (R-1)(C-1) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Compare computed test statistic against a tabled/critical value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
computed value of the Pearson chi- square statistic is compared with
the critical value to determine if the computed value is improbable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The critical tabled values are based on sampling distributions of the Pearson chi-square statistic</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If calculated <span style="font-family: Symbol;">c</span>2 is greater than <span style="font-family: Symbol;">c</span>2 table value, reject Ho</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suppose a researcher is interested in voting preferences on gun control issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A questionnaire was developed and sent to a random sample of 90 voters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The researcher also collects information about the political party membership of the sample of 90 respondents.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bivariate Frequency Table or Contingency Table</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Determine Appropriate Test</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Party Membership ( 2 levels) and Nominal</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Voting Preference ( 3 levels) and Nominal</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Establish Level of Significance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alpha of .05 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Determine The Hypothesis</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ho : There is no difference between D & R in their opinion on gun control issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ha : There is an association between responses to the gun control survey and the party membership in the population.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Calculating Test Statistics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Determine Degrees of Freedom</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
df = (R-1)(C-1) =<br />
(2-1)(3-1) = 2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Critical Chi-Square</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Critical
values for chi-square are found on tables, sorted by degrees of freedom
and probability levels. Be sure to use p = 0.05.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If your calculated chi-square value is greater than the critical value from the table, you “reject the null hypothesis”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If
your chi-square value is less than the critical value, you “fail to
reject” the null hypothesis (that is, you accept that your genetic
theory about the expected ratio is correct). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chi-Square Table</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Compare computed test statistic against a tabled/critical value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
α = 0.05</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
df = 2</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Critical tabled value = 5.991</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Test statistic, 11.03, exceeds critical value</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Null hypothesis is rejected</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Democrats & Republicans differ significantly in their opinions on gun control issues</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-50790267581427140152015-01-07T07:25:00.001-08:002015-01-07T07:25:33.123-08:00Curriculum Development Process<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
An effective educational program
can only be successful if it is prepared appropriately. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Curriculum is the backbone of
educational program which needs proper designing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The curriculum process consists
mostly of five elements or phases.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
1 Situational analyses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
2 Formulation of objectives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
3 Selection of content/Scope and
sequence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
4 Methods/ Strategies/Actives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
5 Evaluation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Situational analyses</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
In order to develop a procedure
of Curriculum Organization, one must keep in mind the realities of the
situation. The curriculum is the mirror of the traditions, environment and
ideas of the concern society. The main purpose of education system to prepare a
curriculum to the actual needs of the society. The main functions of curriculum
is to preserve and transmit the cultural heritage to next generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Language, social needs of the society,
political and religious situation must be considered while developing
curriculum.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The identification of the areas
mentioned here help the planner in curriculum development and the selection of
objectives, learning material (learning) and appropriate evaluation procedure.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Important aspects of existing
situation are as follows:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Geographical
condition of the country.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>National
and international trends.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Cultural
and social needs.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>System
of examinations etc.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Economical
conditions. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Age,
level and interests of the learners.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Pattern
of curriculum to be followed.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Religious
condition</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Ø<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Teacher
training programmes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Determination and
formulation of learning outcomes-sources of learning</u> outcome</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Formulation of Objectives
Validation of Educational Objectives:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The work of the curriculum
planners to identify such Goals and objectives which fulfill the desires of the
society and according the need of national and international demands. In order
to reach these goals the curriculum planners clearly state the aims which are
related to various fields of studies or subject areas and even related to
classroom management and teaching. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Teachers and learner are the first
who have the responsibility to achieve the initial targets in class-room. The
achievement of these objectives ultimately leads the learner to-wards various
categories of life activities, such as:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Continued learning:</u></b>
motivation toward Learning and create thinking skills in learner</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Citizenship:</u></b>
Prepare a good citizen who contribute in the economic, local, national, and
international level, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Vocational effectiveness:</u></b>
To help the individual on the vocational aspect and made him an economic assets
of society</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Home responsibilities:</u></b>
Inculcate the sense of responsibility in the Learner to help each other,
respect people, and take care of elders and other related experiences, such as
food, social and individual activity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Validation of Educational
Objectives</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
General principles for stating
valid objectives for curriculum.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
1.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Consistency with the ideology of a nation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
2. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Consistency and non-contradiction of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>educational
objectives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
3.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Behavioristic interpretation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
4.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Consistency with social condition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
5.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Democratic ideals/relationship.</div>
<ol start="6" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fulfillment
of basic human needs.</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>(Reman.M,
2000)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Consistency with the ideology
of a Nation</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Every nation has certain beliefs
and the philosophy of Pakistan is based upon Islam therefore the objectives of
our educational system must be regarding the teaching of Islam. The validity
and foundation of educational objectives in Pakistan depends upon Quran and
Sunnah.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b>Fulfillment of basic human needs</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Man Need the fulfillment of basic
needs in life to maintain equilibrium. The objective must help in the
attainment of these needs. E.g. Among the basic needs that have been identified
are food, clothing, shelter etc...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Consistency and
non-contradiction of education objectives:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Educational objectives must not
be contradictory to each other. There should be consistency in the objectives
at all levels. The objectives must inculcate certain Islamic value and skill in
the individual to help him in the real life situation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Behavioristic interpretation:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Objectives expressed in terms of
student behavior are called as behavioral objectives. To create valid, clear
and achievable objectives, the curriculum planners have to articulate these
objectives for the development and integration of the personalities, economic
efficiency, self realization, critical thinking, problem solving ability,
understanding of rights. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The objectives that are not put
in terms of human behavior are invalid.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Consistency with social
conditions:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The objectives of an educational programme are always related to social
and culture realities of a nation. In a develop society that is undergoing
little or no change, objectives usually are closely related to conditions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of that time (updated) , And when a society ideas
and progress is slow in adopting new ways of doing things, because of the
repaid advancements in the field of science and technology and inability<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of a society to cope with time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The fact is that Mass media of
communication has grown and Computers are replacing the manpower which is new
social realities of life. The old objectives formulated on the basis of old
realties now need a revisit and need modification according to the new social
and scientific conditions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Curriculum planners sometimes avoid
the new conditions and they feel no need to improve educational objectives with
changing time resulting put the development of a society in danger. Hence the
curriculum developers have to formulate such type of objectives which are valid
with respect to changing needs and the aspects of past culture which they feel
essential to preserve as heritage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Democratic ideals
relationship:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Only the democratic ideology fulfills the basic needs of a society and
this is the only one that can be used in validating educational objectives in
Pakistan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To apply the democratic values in a society the curriculum planners must
relate the objectives and keep in view democratic values and principles. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As the principles of democracy are very difficult so no summarized
statement of these can be used successfully in the justification of educational
objectives. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But if the objectives are directly related to democratic principles based
upon reasoning and critical thinking then they are also called valid.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Selection and organizing of Learning
experiences<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Content)</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Selection of course content for a
subject to teach. The subject should encompass all the possible experiences a
learner need at that level. All the material which was taught in past and now
should be the part of the subject. With the expansion in knowledge new topics
emerged with time, they must be incorporated into each subject. With the
expansion of knowledge the principle of complete coverage was replace with the
principle of representative content because the attainment of total coverage
became difficult. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>The principles of subject
matter selection </u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>1. The course content must be
significant in the same field of knowledge:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
This is principle for program of
studies consisting of specialized courses, with each course being followed by a
more advanced course (from simple to complex).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
2. <b>The subject matter
selected must possess the principle of survival:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The subject matter should have
the ability to survive. Those subjects content survived for long which inspire
people and benefit mankind, to fulfill the need of the society in spite of
continues change in society and culture</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
3. The subject matter must have
the principle of interest:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Keep in view the principle of
interest to motivate the learners to learn more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
4. The content or subject matter
must be utilized:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
(The Principle of Utility)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The Principle of Utility means
that the knowledge presented must be helpful in real life situation and the
society well benefit from the outcome of the subject content. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>5. The course content should
contribute to the development of an Islamic society:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The content selected should
helpful in the development of character of Muslims. It should inculcate the
ideology and values of a true Muslim. It should inculcate the required skills
which is beneficial for an Islamic society. There should be no such content
which contradict Islamic values</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Some common Considerations for
the curriculum organizers</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Subject matter should consist of physical and
mental activities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b>the subject Content should be helpful in the
development of creative abilities in individual</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>logical
sequence from simple to complex </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>the subject Content Help in the attaining of the
objectives of the relevant course </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b>incorporate the best information from all
sources in Subject matter</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><u>Procedure of Content
Selection:</u></b><u> </u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Different procedures for content
selection. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The judgmental procedure</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The analytical procedure</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The consensual procedure</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The experimental procedure<b> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>The judgmental procedure:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
This procedure is all about the
vision of the curriculum planner, the success or failure depends upon the
curriculum planner. The curriculum planner should have the vision of past,
present and future to see the potentialities of all three dimensions. It is
very hard that the judgment of curriculum planner will lead to the best
selection of subject matter, for that the curriculum planner must be objective
in the selection of content and have knowledge for the benefit of others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>The analytical procedure:</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The analytical method is the most
commonly used method of content selection. It consists of various techniques to
collect information regarding subject matter selection:</div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Conducting interviews </li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Collecting information through questionnaires</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Gathering information through documentary analysis.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">Observing the performance of people. </li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>The consensual procedures:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
It is the opinion of the people
in society who reached to some level of expertise in a field; excellent in the
fields of business, industry, agriculture and Experts as teachers, physicians,
engineers, and artists etc. these are the people who represent the society. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The experimental procedure</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
In this method the content is
selected after applying different test;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
1. Selection of content matter
against some standard criterion (say interest).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
2. Hypothesis is formulated that
the selected content matter meets the criterion (interest)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
3. Hypothesis is tested after
gathering information from students and teachers and tested with instrument.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b><u>Teaching
Methods/Strategies</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Teaching Methods/Strategies</b>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Teaching method play a very
important role in the process of curriculum development, this element of
curriculum development process help in the attainment of desired objectives. It
is the dynamic side of the curriculum because without proper teaching methods
one can’t think of achieving the targets goal of education planner, it’s largely
depends upon the methods adopted in the classroom for teaching learning process.
This process includes:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Teacher’s activities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Student’s activities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
This is also the work of
curriculum planners to suggest proper teaching methods for the suggested
curriculum because during planning curriculum they have to keep the methodology
in mind, one can’t include such topics in curriculum which are difficult to
teach and for such curriculum, and the curriculum planner must have some proper
method in mind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
There are various methods of
teaching<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but the curriculum have to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>keep financial restraint in mind so for that
reason they have to suggest such methods which are applicable in classroom .
There are methods as lecture, lecture demonstration, problem solving, project,
programmed learning etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For achieving
the aims and objectives of the curriculum the curriculum planner must suggest
and impose the innovative and active approaches of teaching and learning to
initiate the interest of students and teacher as well as the parents. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Bases for Selecting
Instructional Methods:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As discuss earlier there are multiple methods of teaching/ instruction,
teacher always face the problem of to adopt which method for different lessons.
Therefore it is the work of curriculum planner to suggest such methods in
advance so the teacher has no problem to search for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Guidelines for the selection
of teaching / instructional methods:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Achievement of objectives:</b>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
For the teacher to adopt a method
for teaching learning he must keep in mind the objective of the curriculum, how
to get that objective, instructional objectives is the first consideration in
planning for teaching. Such a general objective could be achieved through
multiple ways, but specific objectives like the student will be able to write
an easy on a given topic narrow the choices considerably.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Principles of learning</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The teacher should have the
knowledge of individual differences, principles and theories of learning while
selecting a teaching method for instruction. It would help him in the
adaptation of proper method for teaching learning process in the classroom for
a larger number of students with different IQs.<b> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Individual learning styles:</b>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Researchers believes that the
most effective learning takes place when the teacher used interactive<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>techniques in teaching learning process, the
method that suited to the individual student keeping in view the individual
differences of the students and impart knowledge to the learner according to
his mental ability. “Optimal for one person is not optimal for another”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cont….<b>
</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The Rand Corporation Study (1971)
supports these findings by stating that “teacher, student, instructional
method, and perhaps, other aspects of the educational process interact with
each other. Thus a teacher who works well (is effective) with one type of
student using one method, he might be ineffective when working with another
method. The effectiveness of a teacher, or method, or whatever varies from one
situation to another”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Self-fulfilling processes and
educational stratification </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The teachers know about the
potentialities of the students in classroom<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and the fact that every child differ from other in the learning process
, keeping in view this, the teacher adopt such methods which help all the
students in their own way<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of learning .
B.F Skinner stated “we need to find practices which permit all teachers to
teach well and under which all students learn as efficiently as their talents
permit”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The teacher should try to develop
the potentialities of students which they already have and give them
opportunities to develop those potentialities to the utmost level. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Facilities, equipment and
resources </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The teacher know what he has in
hand in the form of equipment, audio-visual aids, resources and facilities,
therefore he should plan Instructional planning In the light of available
resources. It is the ability of a teacher to use minimum resources, equipments
of school and achieve maximum outcome, using methods and activities that
involve student in a highly active role with the minimum resources.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b>Accountability</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Accountability is also very
important factor in the curriculum development process, Teachers,
administrators and others who has the responsibility of the education held
responsible for the quality of education</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The process of accountability
means that someone has to justify his work and responsibility to someone else,
so it is the circle of accountability where everybody is answerable to other. It
involves continued evaluation, review of the people in the process. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
It demands results, costs of
producing these results. All the stockholders observe and judge the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>school,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the teachers, the administrators and the supervisors<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>whether<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>students gain certain skills
and knowledge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>curriculum are developed, and what methods
are they adopting for imparting knowledge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of different subjects to students. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Some professionals consider pupil
behaviors as the source of methods</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Shepherd and Regan (1982; p 127)
“Methods are content free and not derived from organized subject matter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
It has been argued that methods
are derived from an analysis and application of learning theories. The actions,
procedures and manipulations of the teacher are not different during
instruction or reading or teaching mathematics. Method is like a vehicle, which
is empty but can carry a variety of subject matter. This vehicle is created and
constructed from generalizations, principles and assumptions”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Some, professionals feel that every
teacher has its own unique method of teaching which represent a form of his
personality. Teachers used those methods which they found easy, as It
evident<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the everyday practice of
teachers, even some teacher create their own methods in the classroom to teach,
keeping in view the behavior of the students and the situation of that time</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b><u>Assessment:</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Assessment is very important
process of the curriculum development. Assessment of student’s academic
achievement for the purpose of evaluation of the overall progress of education.
Evaluation gives curriculum planner the tools, techniques and processes for
defining, gathering and interpreting data relevant to the goals and objectives
of the curriculum. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Evaluation helps on all aspects
of curriculum planning, administrating and evaluation of the curriculum. it
tells, to what extent the curriculum is good and what are the weaknesses of the
curriculum and implementing the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>curriculum, what need to be done to improve the curriculum development
process , the administrating process and the teaching methods of the teacher
and where system lack the resources .</div>
</div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-83913239877911782162015-01-07T07:11:00.000-08:002015-01-07T07:11:06.097-08:00Statistics for a Psychology Thesis <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h5>
Statistics for a Psychology Thesis</h5>
<b>The Big Picture: </b>It all starts with a research question. We design or
obtain empirical data that might assist in answering a research question.
Statistics is a tool for summarising empirical reality and answering questions.
Knowing how to link statistical analysis with the research question is a
critical skill. One reason that psychology is special is that it attempts to
ground its knowledge in empirical reality. We put our ideas to the test. We are
taught to be scientist-practitioners.<br />
<b>Staying open minded: </b>There is often a lot of pressure to obtain certain
results, support certain hypotheses or test various complex statistical models.
My advice: Stuff them all. Be ethical. Stay true to yourself. Let the data speak
to you in all its non-conforming brutal honesty. When you analyse data, discard
all agendas. If the sample size is too small to say much conclusively,
acknowledge this. If the data does not support your hypotheses, accept it and
try to understand why. If you have data based on a correlational design,
acknowledge that there are many other competing explanations to the particular
causal relationship you might be proposing. The whole point of the empirical
process is ABSOLUTELY NOT to act as a checkbox for some ill-conceived theory.<br />
<b>Democracy and statistics:</b> Ideologically based positions are common in
public debate. Well designed and analysed empirical studies can be powerful in
setting out the “facts” that any side of a debate needs to acknowledge. However,
empirical research can be biased and hijacked for particular agendas. Having
citizens that are able to critically evaluate empirical research and are able to
honestly and skilfully conduct and analyse their own research is important for
maintaining a healthy democracy. The rhetorical question I ask often is: “Can
you create knowledge from empirical observations? Or must you rely on others to
digest it for you?”<br />
<b>Statistics as reasoned decision making: </b>Perhaps because of statistics
association with mathematics or perhaps because of the way we are taught
statistics and associated rules of thumb, it may appear like there is always a
right and wrong way to do statistics. In reality, statistics is just like other
domains. There are different ways of doing what we do, and the key is to justify
our choices based on reasoned decision making. Reasoned decision making involves
weighing up the pros and cons of different choices in terms of such factors as
the purpose of the analyses, the nature of the data, and recommendations from
statistics textbooks and journals. The idea is to explain your reasons in a
logical and coherent way just as you would justify any other decision in
life.<br />
<b>Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST): </b>a p value indicates the
probability of observing results in a sample as or more extreme as those
obtained assuming the null hypothesis is true. NHST is a tool for ruling out
random sampling as an explanation for the observed relationship. Failing to
reject the null hypothesis does not prove the null hypothesis. Statistical
significance does not equal practical importance. <br />
<b>A modern orientation to data analysis: </b>Answers to research questions
depend on the status of population parameters. Empirical research aims to
estimate population parameters (e.g., size of a correlation, size of group
differences, etc.). NHST is still relevant. However, confidence intervals around
effect sizes and a general orientation of meta-analytic thinking leads to better
thinking about research problems, results interpretation and study design than
does NHST. <br />
<b>Effect Size: </b>Thinking about effect sizes is a philosophical shift which
emphasises thinking about the practical importance of research findings. Effect
size measures may be standardised (e.g., cohen’s d, r, odds ratio, etc.) or
unstandardised (e.g., difference between group means, unstandardised regression
coefficient, etc.). Think about what this means for practitioners using the
knowledge. Contextualise the effect size in terms of its statistical definition,
prior research in the area, prior research in the broader discipline and only
finally using Cohen’s rules of thumb.<br />
<b>Confidence Intervals: </b>Confidence intervals indicate how confident we can
be that the population parameter is between given values (e.g., 95% confidence).
Confidence intervals focus our attention on population values, which is what
theory is all about. They highlight our degree of uncertainty. If the confidence
interval includes the null hypothesis value, we know that we do not have a
statistically significant result. In this way confidence intervals provide
similar information as NHST, but also much more.<br />
<b>Power Analysis: </b>Having an adequate sample size to assess your research
question is important. Statistical power is the probability of finding a
statistically significant result for a particular parameter in a particular
study where the null hypothesis is false.
Power increases with larger population effect sizes, larger sample sizes and
less stringent alpha. G-Power 3 (just Google G Power 3) is excellent free
software for running power analyses.<br />
<b>Accuracy in Parameter Estimation (AIPE): </b>Power analysis is aligned with
NHST. AIPE is aligned with confidence intervals around effect sizes and
meta-analytic thinking. AIPE attempts to work out the size of the confidence
interval we will have for any given sample size and effect size. The aim is to
have a sample size that will give us sufficiently small confidence intervals
around our obtained effect sizes to draw the conclusions about effect sizes that
we want to draw.<br />
<b>Meta Analytic thinking: </b>Meta analytic thinking involves "a) the
prospective formulation of study expectations and design by explicitly invoking
prior effect size measures and b) the retrospective interpretation of new
results, once they are in hand, via explicit, direct comparison with the prior
effect sizes in the related literature" (Thompson, 2008, p.28). This approach
incorporates the idea that we read the literature in terms of confidence
intervals around effect sizes and we design studies with sufficient power to
test for the effect size and sufficient potential to refine our estimate of the
parameter under study. <br />
<b>Sharing data with the world: </b>Imagine the potential for knowledge
advancement if data underlying published articles was readily assessable to be
re-analysed. You could learn about data analysis by trying to replicate analyses
on data similar to your thesis. You could do meta-analyses using the complete
data sets. You could run analyses that the original authors did not report. You
could be an active consumer of their results, rather than a passive receiver.
Others would be more receptive to your ideas if they could subject your analyses
to scrutiny. Such a model fits with the idea of being open minded, distributing
knowledge, and emphasising meta-analytic thinking. In many situations concerns
about confidentiality, intellectual property, and the data collector’s right to
first publish can be overcome. The message: Consider making your data publicly
available after you have published it in a journal. <br />
<b>Software: </b>Be aware of the different statistical packages that are
available. SPSS is relatively easy to use. “R” (<a href="http://www.r-project.org/">www.r-project.org/</a>) is an open source
(i.e., free software) alternative and is worth learning if you want to become a
serious data analyst. It has cutting edge features (e.g., polychoric
correlations, bootstrapping, reports for psychological tests, meta analysis,
multilevel modelling, item analysis, etc.) , amazing potential for automation
and customised output, and encourages a better orientation towards running
analyses. Results can be fed back into subsequent analyses; graphs and output
can be customised to your needs; it forces you to document your analysis
process; it generally requires that you know a little more about what you are
doing; and it leads to an approach of being responsive to what the data is
saying and adjusting analyses accordingly. For an introduction for
psychologists, see (<a href="http://personality-project.org/r/r.guide.html">personality-project.org/r/r.guide.html</a>). <br />
<b>Learning Statistics: </b>For many people in psychology, statistics is not
something done everyday. A strategy is needed to identify and acquire the skills
required to analyse your thesis data. Set out a statistical self-development
plan possibly in conjunction with a statistical adviser, identifying things such
as books and chapters to read, practice exercises to do, formal courses to do,
etc. It is important to get practical experience analysing other datasets before
you tackle your thesis dataset.<br />
<b>The right books: </b>It is critical to have the right resources. Get a
comprehensive multivariate book (Tabachnick & Fiddel – Using Multivariate
Statistics or Hair et al – Multivariate Data Analysis). Get a clear,
entertaining, insightful and SPSS-focused book (Field – Discovering Statistics
Using SPSS). Get an easy to follow SPSS cookbook for doing your thesis (Pallant
– SPSS Survival Manual).<br />
<b>Using statistical consultants:</b> be prepared; be clear about your
questions; recognise that statistical consultants are there to provide advice
about options and that many decisions are intimately tied up with theoretical
considerations and should be made by the researcher.<br />
<b>Taking your time: </b>As Wright (2003) so aptly put it: “Conducting data
analysis is like drinking a fine wine. It is important to swirl and sniff the
wine, to unpack the complex bouquet and to appreciate the experience.” A good
dataset often has a lot to say. When we’ve often spent many months designing and
collecting data, it is important to give the data the time to speak to us.
Often, this will require us to change how we conceptualise the phenomena.
Explore the data; produce lots of graphs; consider the individual cases; assess
the assumptions; reflect on the statistical models used; reflect on the metrics
of the variables used; and value basic descriptive statistics. <br />
<b>Telling a story:</b> The results section should be the most interesting
section of a thesis. It should show how your results answer your research
question. It should show the reasons for your statistical decisions. It should
explain why the statistical output is interesting. You’ve whet the reader’s
appetite with the introduction and method, the results section is where you get
to convert your empirical observations into a contribution that advances the sum
of all human knowledge. </div>
Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-26648644403542230392015-01-07T07:06:00.000-08:002015-01-07T07:06:05.232-08:00Evaluating the Potential Incorporation of R into Research Methods Education in Psychology <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was recently completing some professional development activities that required
me to write a report on a self-chosen topic related to diversity in student
backgrounds. I chose to use the opportunity to reflect on the potential for
using R to teach psychology students research methods. I thought I'd share the
report in case it interests anyone.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>
<h2>
Abstract</h2>
Research methods is fundamental to psychology education at
university. Recently, open source software called R has become a
compelling alternative to the traditionally used proprietary software
called SPSS for teaching research methods. However, despite many strong
equity and pedagogical arguments for the use of R, there are also many
risks associated with its use. This report reviews the literature on the
role of technology in research methods university education. It then
reviews literature on the diversity of psychology students in terms of
motivations, mathematical backgrounds, and career goals. These reviews
are then integrated with a pedagogical assessment of the pros and cons
of SPSS and R. Finally, recommendations are made regarding how R could
be best implemented in psychology research methods teaching.<br />
<h2>
Introduction</h2>
Training in research methods is a fundamental component of university
education in psychology. However, for many reasons subjects in
research methods are challenging to teach. Students have diverse
mathematical, statistical, and computational backgrounds; students often
lack motivation as they struggle to see the relevance of statistics.
These issues are compounded by undergraduate majors in psychology that
typically have several compulsory research methods subjects. Given the
competition for entry into fourth year and post-graduate programs, such
research methods subjects can be threatening to struggling students.<br />
As with many other universities, research methods in psychology at
Deakin University has largely been taught using software called SPSS.
This software is typically taught as a menu driven program that is used
to analyse data enabling standard data manipulation, analyses, and
plotting. While SPSS is relatively user-friendly for standard analyses,
there are several problems with teaching students how to use it. In
particular, it is very expensive; thus, students can not be assumed to
have access to it either from home for doing assignments or in future
jobs. In addition, while SPSS makes it easy to perform standard
analyses, it is very difficult to alter what SPSS does to perform novel
analyses. Thus, for many reasons some lecturers are seeking alternative
statistical software for teaching research methods.<br />
While there are many programs for performing statistical analysis,
one particularly promising program, known simply as "R", has emerged as a
viable alternative to SPSS. R is open source so it is free for students
and staff. Thus, students can use R from home when completing
assignments, and can use it in any future job. It has a vast array of
statistical functionality. Despite these benefits, it does present
several challenges to incorporation into psychology. Analyses are
typically performed using scripts. It is often less clear how to run
certain analyses. The program often assumes a mental model of a
statistician rather than an applied researcher.<br />
Thus, the current report had the following aims. The first aim was to
evaluate the pros and cons of using R to teaching psychology students
research methods. The second aim was to evaluate how best R could be
incorporated. In order to achieve these aims, the report is structured
into several parts. First, the general literature of software in
statistics education is reviewed. A particular focus is placed on
diversity in student backgrounds in applied fields. Second, the
backgrounds and career goals of psychology students are presented with
reference to the literature and practical experience. Third, the pros
and cons of using R versus SPSS is presented. Finally, ideas about how
best to incorporate R into statistics education are reviewed.<br />
<h2>
Statistics education and the role of software</h2>
There is a substantial literature on statistics education and the
role of statistical software in statistics education. Tiskovskaya and
Lancaster (2012) provide one review of the challenges in statistics
education. Their review is structured around teaching and learning,
statistical literacy, and statistics as a profession. Of particular
relevance to teaching statistics in psychology they outline several
problems and provide relevant references to the statistical literature.
With references taken from their paper, these issues include: inability
to apply mathematics to real world problems (e.g., Garfield, 1995);
mathematics and statistics anxiety and motivation issues in students
(e.g., Gal & Ginsburg, 1994); inherent difficulty in students
understanding probability and statistics (e.g., Garfield & Ben-Zvi,
2008); problems with background mathematical and statistical knowledge
(e.g., Batanero et al 1994); the need to develop statistical literacy
which translates into everyday life (e.g., Gal, 2002); and the need to
develop assessment tools to evaluate statistical literacy. Tiskovskaya
and Lancaster (2012) also reviewed potential statistics teaching
reforms. They note that there is a need to provide contextualised
practice, foster statistical literacy, and create an active learning
environment.<br />
Of particular relevance to the current review of statistical
software, Tiskovskaya and Lancaster (2012) discuss the role of
technology in statistics education. The importance of technology has
increased as computers have become more powerful. This has enabled
students to run powerful statistical programs on their computer. Some
teachers have used this power to focus instruction on interpretation of
statistical results rather than computational mechanics. Chance et al
(2007) further note the value of using interactive applets to explore
statistical concepts and taking advantage of internet resources in
teaching.<br />
Chance et al's (2007) review also summarises several useful
suggestions for incorporating technology in statistics education. Moore
(1997) notes the importance of balancing using technology as a tool with
remembering that the aim is to teach statistics and not the tool per
se. Chance et al (2007) notes particularly valuable uses of technology
include analysing real datasets, exploring data graphically, and
performing simulations. Chance et al (2007) also review statistical
software packages for statistics education noting both the advantages
and disadvantages of menu-driven applications such as SPSS.<br />
Chance et al (2007) offer several recommendations for incorporating
technology into statistical education. First, they highlight the
importance of getting students practicing not just performing analyses,
but also focusing on interpretation. Second, they recommend that tasks
be carefully structured around exploration so that students see the
bigger picture and do not get overwhelmed with software implementation
issues. Third, collaborative exercises can force students to justify to
their fellow students their reasoning. Fourth, they encourage the use of
cycles of prediction and testing, which technology can facilitate
(e.g., proposing a hypothesis for a simulation and then testing it).<br />
Chance et al (2007) summarise the GAISE report by Franklin and
Garfield (2006) on issues to consider when choosing software to teach
statistics. These include (a) "ease of data entry, ability to import
data in multiple formats, (b) Interactive capabilities, (c) Dynamic
linking between data, graphical, and numerical analyses, (d) Ease of use
for particular audiences, and (f) Availability to students,
portability" (p.19). Franklin and Garfield (2006) also discuss a range
of other implementation issues, such as the amount of time to allocate
to software exploration, how much the software will be used in the
course, and how accessible the software will be outside class. Garfield
(1995) suggest that computers should be used to encourage students to
explore data using analysis and visualisation tools. Running simulations
and exploring resulting properties is also particularly useful. Thus,
overall these general considerations regarding statistics education can
inform the choice of statistical software. However, the above review
also highlights that choice of software is only a small part of the
overall unit design process.<br />
<h2>
Psychology students and the role of statistics</h2>
Pathways of psychological studies in Australian universities
typically involve completing a three year undergraduate major in
psychology, then a fourth year, followed by post-graduate professional
or research degrees at masters or doctoral level. As a result of student
interest, specialisation, and competition for places, there is a
reduction over year levels. From my experience both at Melbourne
University and Deakin University, a ball park estimate of the student
numbers as a percentage of first year load, would be 40% at second year,
35% at third year, 10% at fourth year, and 3% at postgraduate level.
This is from one to two thousand students at first year. Of course these
are just rough estimates, but the point is to highlight that there are
huge numbers of students getting a basic undergraduate education in
psychology; in contrast, the few that go on to fourth year have both a
high skill level in psychology also different needs regarding research
methods.<br />
Psychology students are taught using the scientist-practitioner
model. A big part of science in psychology is research methods and
statistics. Students typically complete two or three research methods
subjects at undergraduate level, another unit in fourth year, and
potentially further units at postgraduate level. The diverse nature of
psychology student backgrounds, motivations, and career outcomes can
make research methods a difficult subject to design and teach.
Psychology undergraduate students also have diverse career goals and
outcomes. Many go on to some form of further study. Those that exit at
the end of third year have diverse employment outcomes. For example,
Borden and Rajecki describe one US sample finding that income was lower
than many other majors and that roles included administrative support
(17.6%), social worker (12.6%), counsellor (7.6%) along with a diverse
range of other jobs. Of those that go on, some will continue with
research, but others will go into some form of applied practice.<br />
In terms of research methods in psychology, there are a diverse range
of goals. First, research methods is meant to help all students learn
to reason about the scientific literature in psychology. Second, for
students who continue with psychology research methods should give
students the skills to be able to complete a quantitative fourth year
and postgraduate thesis. For a subset of students, quantitative skills
is part of their marketable skillset that they can take into future
employment. Furthermore, for a small group of students who go on to do
their PhD and then join academia, research methods skills are
fundamental to the continuation of good research and the vitality of the
discipline.<br />
In addition to diverse aims are the diverse student backgrounds in
psychology. In particular, there are typically no mathematics
pre-requisites. By casual observation many students seem motivated to
find work in the helping professions, and particularly as clinical
psychologists. Many studies have discussed the challenges of teaching
statistics to psychology students. For example LaLonde and Gardner
(1993) proposed and tested a model of statistics achievement that
combined mathematical aptitude and effort with anxiety and motivation as
predictors.<br />
Thus, in combination this diversity in background and student goals
introduce several challenges when teaching research methods. For some
students the main goal is to introduce a moderate degree of statistical
literacy. For others, it is essential that they are at least able to
analyse their thesis data in a basic way. A final group of advanced
students needs skills that will allow them to model their data in a
sophisticated way to contribute to the research literature. Thus, there
is a tension between presenting ideas in an accessible way for all
students versus tailoring the material for advanced students so they can
truly excel.<br />
This tension exists in many different aspects of research methods
curriculum. Research methods can be taught with varying degrees of
mathematical rigour and abstraction. Teaching can emphasise interpreting
output or it can emphasise computational processes. It can also vary in
the prominence of software versus ideas. In particular the correct
choice of statistical software can substantially interact with these
issues of balancing rigour with accessibility. In particular, tools like
SPSS are more limited than R, but such limits can make standard
analyses easier.<br />
Aiken et al (2008) reviewed doctoral education in statistics and
found that most surveyed programs were using SAS or SPSS primarily. They
described a case study in curricular innovation in terms of novel
topics emerging followed by initiatives from substantive researchers.
Textbooks and software that make techniques accessible to psychology
graduates also facilitate the teaching process. In some respects, as R
has become more accessible through usability innovation and as the needs
of data analysts have become more advanced, the argument for R has
become more compelling.<br />
<h2>
Whether to use R in psychology research methods</h2>
<h3>
Pros and cons of R</h3>
The above review thus provides a background for understanding both
statistics education in general and the diversity in the background and
goals of psychological students. The following analysis compares and
contrasts R and SPSS as software for teaching research methods in
psychology. This initial comparison focuses on price, features,
usability and other considerations.<br />
In terms of price, an initial benefit of R is that it is free. It is
developed under the GNU open-source licence. It is free to the
university and free to students. In contrast a student licence to SPSS
for a year is around $200; A professional licence is around $2,000; and
SPSS charges expensive licencing fees to the university. R would make it
easier to get students to complete analyses from home. Requiring
students to purchase SPSS creates equity issues and may even encourage
some students to engage in software piracy. If as Devlin et al (2008)
suggest that essential textbooks create economic hardship, even more
expensive statistical software would compound this problem.<br />
In terms of features, SPSS and R both run on Windows, OSX, and Linux.
They both support most standard analyses that students may wish to run.
However, R has a larger array of contributed packages. SPSS has several
features including a data entry tool, a menu-driven GUI, and an output
management system for tables and plots that R does not have. R makes it a
lot easier to customise analyses, perform reproducible research, and
simulations.<br />
In terms of flexibility SPSS and R both have options for performing
flexible analyses. However, R makes it a lot easier to gradually
introduce customisation by building on standard analyses. It is also
flexible in how it can be used because of the open source licence. R is
particularly suited to advanced students who can benefit from the easier
pathway it provides for growing statistical sophistication.<br />
In terms of usability R and SPSS are quite different. R assumes
greater knowledge about statistics. SPSS has an interface that is more
familiar to standard Windows-based programs. R is a programming language
with a less consistent mental model to standard Windows programs. R has
a steeper initial learning curve, but shallower intermediate curve. R
encourages students to gradually develop statistical skills. In
particular R has several quirks which create difficulties for the
novices (e.g., learning details of syntax, escaping spaces in file
paths, treating strings as factors versus character variables, etc.).
There are also many things that are easy in SPSS that are difficult in
R. Some examples include: variable labels and modifying meta data,
editing loaded data, browsing loaded data, producing tables of output,
viewing and browsing statistical output, generating all the possible
bits of output for an analysis, importing data, standard analyses that
SPSS already does, and interactive plotting.<br />
R and SPSS can also be compared in terms of existing resources. There
are many online resources for both R and SPSS. Psychology-specific R
resources exist but are less plentiful than for SPSS. Furthermore,
existing psychology supervisors, research methods staff, and tutors are
probably more familiar with SPSS which may cause issues when
transitioning teaching to R. That said, many supervisors either train
their students directly in the software that they want their students to
use or they let the student handle details of implementation.<br />
<h3>
Mental Models</h3>
When choosing between SPSS and R it is worth considering the mental
models required to use SPSS and R. These mental models both guide what
needs to be trained and also may suggest the gap that needs to be closed
between students' initial mental models and that which is required by
the software.<br />
The SPSS mental model is centred around a dataset. The typical
workflow is as follows: (a) import or create data; (b) define meta data;
(c) menus guide analysis choice; (d) dialog boxes guide choices within
analyses; (e) large amounts of output are produced; (f) instructional
material facilitates interpretation of output; (g) output can be copy
and pasted into Word or another program for a final report. Custom
statistical functions or taking SPSS output and using it as input to
subsequent functions is not encouraged for regular users. Thus, overall
the system guides the user in the analysis.<br />
In contrast, R requires that the user guides the software. Thus, the R
workflow is as follows: (a) Setup raw data in another program; (b)
import data where often the user will have multiple datasets, meta
datasets, and other data objects (e.g., vectors, tables of output); (c)
transform data as required using a range of commands; (d) perform
analyses, where command identification may involve a Google search or
looking up a book, and understanding arguments in a command can be
facilitated by internal documentation and online tools; (e) because the
resulting output is minimal, the user often has to ask for specific
output using additional commands; (f) much of what is standard in SPSS
requires a custom command in R, but also much of which does not exist in
SPSS can be readily created by an intermediate user; it is much easier
to extract out particular statistical results and use that as input for
subsequent functions; (g) while output can be incorporated into Word or
Excel, users are encouraged to engage in various workflows that
emphasise reproducible research.<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
Thus, overall SPSS is well suited to a menu-driven standardised
analysis workflow which meets the needs of many psychology students. R
is particularly suited to statisticians that need to perform a diverse
range of analyses and are more comfortable with computer programming and
statistics in general. R requires greater statistical knowledge and it
encourages students to have a plan for their analyses. R also requires
students to learn more about computing including programming, the
command-line, file formats, and advanced file management. The emphasis
on commands creates a greater demand on declarative memory which in turn
makes R more suited to students who will perform statistical analysis
more regularly. However, the flexibility and nature of R means that it
can be used in many more contexts than SPSS such as demonstrating
statistical ideas through simulation.<br />
Overall, there are clearly pros and cons of both SPSS and R. R is
particularly suited to more advanced students. Occasional users may be
more productive initially with SPSS. That said, the many students who
never go on with any data analysis work, may learn as much or more by
using R. It also remains an empirical question to see how different
psychology students might handle R. Thus, the remainder of this report
focuses on what implementation of how R could be implemented most
effectively.<br />
<h2>
How to use R in psychology research methods</h2>
When considering implementation of R in psychology, it is useful to
look at existing textbooks and course implementations. When considering
textbooks, it is important to note that psychology tends to use a
particular subset of statistical analyses. It also often has analysis
goals that differ from other fields. For example, there is a greater
emphasis on theoretical meaning, effect sizes, complex experimental
designs, test reliability, and causal interpretation. While there are
many textbooks that teach statistics using R, only recently have books
emerged that are specifically designed to teach R to psychology
students. The two main books are Andy Field's "Discovering Statistics
Using R" and Dan Navarro's "Learning Statistics with R". An alternative
model is to take a more generic R textbook or online resource and
combine it with a more traditional psychology textbook such as David
Howell's "Statistical Methods for Psychology". In particular, there are
many user friendly online resources for learning R such as
http://www.statmethods.net/ or Venables, Smith and the R Core Team's "An
Introduction to R". Whatever textbook option is chosen an important
part of learning R involves learning how to get help. Thus, training
should include learning how to navigate online learning resources and
internet question and answer sites that are very effective in the case
of R (e.g., stackoverflow.com).<br />
Dan Navarro (2013) has written a textbook that teaches statistics to
psychology students using R. Navarro (2013) presents several argument
for using R instead of a different commercial statistics package. These
include: (1) the benefits of the software being free and not locking
yourself into expensive proprietary software; (2) that R is highly
extensible and has many cutting edge statistical techniques; and (3)
that R is a programming language and learning to program is a good
thing. He also observes that while R has its problems and challenges,
overall it provides the best current available option. Thus, overall,
his approach is to inspire the student to see the bigger picture about
why they are learning R. Navarro then spends two chapters introducing
the R programming language. Starting with simple calculations, many
basic concepts of variables, assignment, extracting data, and functions
are introduced. Then, standard statistical techniques such as ANOVA and
regression are presented with R implementations.<br />
Overall, both these textbooks provide insight into how R could be
implemented. Teaching with R provides some opportunity to teach
statistics in a slightly deeper way. However, various recipes can be
provided to perform standard analyses. Teaching R also requires taking a
little extra time to teach the language. The menu-driven interface to R
called R-Commander also provides a way of introducing R in a more
accessible way. The infrastructure provided by R also provides the
opportunity to introduce many important topics such as bootstrapping,
simulation, power analysis, and customised formulas. Weekly analysis
homework not easily possible with SPSS could consolidate R specific
skills.<br />
An additional issue of implementation relates to when R should be
introduced. Fourth year provides one such opportunity where the students
that remain at this level tend to be more capable and have some initial
experience in statistics. Fourth year research methods is a very
important subject. It is often designed to prepare students to analyse
multivariate data. It is also designed to prepare students to be able to
analyse data on their own including preliminary analyses, data
cleaning, and transformations. R supports all the standard multivariate
techniques that are currently taught at fourth year level. These include
PCA, factor analysis, logistic regression, DFA, multiple regression,
multilevel modelling, CFA, and SEM. R also makes it easier to explore
more advanced methods such as bootstrapping and simulations.<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
Ultimately, it is an empirical question as to whether using R would
provide a more effective tools for research methods education in
psychology. It may be useful to explore the idea with some low-stakes
optional post-graduate training modules in R. Such programs may give a
sense of the kinds of practical issues that arise with students when
learning to use R. If R is to be rolled out to all of fourth year
psychology, this would be a high risk exercise. It would be important to
evaluate the student learning outcomes in a broad way. In particular,
it would be important to see any effect on analysis performance in
fourth year theses.<br />
<h2>
References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Millsap, R. E. (2008). Doctoral
training in statistics, measurement, and methodology in psychology:
Replication and extension of Aiken, West, Sechrest, and Reno's (1990)
survey of PhD programs in North America. The American Psychologist,
63(1), 32-50.</li>
<li>Batanero, C., Godino, J., Green, D., and Holmes, P. (1994). Errors
and Difficulties in Understanding Introductory Statistical Concepts.
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and
Technology, 25 (4), 527–547.</li>
<li>Borden, V. M., & Rajecki, D. W. (2000). First-year employment
outcomes of psychology baccalaureates: Relatedness, preparedness, and
prospects.Teaching of Psychology, 27(3), 164-168.</li>
<li>Chance, B., Ben-Zvi, D., Garfield, J., and Medina, E. (2007). The
Role of Technology in Improving Student Learning of Statistics.
Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 1(1). url:
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8sd2t4rr</li>
<li>Devlin, M., James, R., & Grigg, G. (2008). Studying and working:
A national study of student finances and student engagement. Tertiary
Education and Management, 14(2), 111-122.</li>
<li>Franklin, C. & Garfield, J. (2006). The GAISE (Guidelines for
Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education) project: Developing
statistics education guidelines for pre K-12 and college courses. In G.
Burrill (Ed.), 2006 NCTM Yearbook: Thinking and reasoning with data and
chance. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.</li>
<li>Gal, I. (2002). Adults' Statistical Literacy: Meanings, Components,
Responsibilities. With Discussion. International Statistical Review,
70(1), 1-51.</li>
<li>Gal, I. & Ginsburg, L. (1994). The Role of Beliefs and Attitudes
in Learning Statistics: Towards an Assessment Framework. Journal of
Statistics Education, 2(2). url:
http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v2n2/gal.html</li>
<li>Garfield, J. (1995). How Students Learn Statistics. International Statistical Review, 63(1), 25-34.</li>
<li>Garfield, J. and Ben-Zvi, D. (2008). Developing Students'
Statistical Reasoning: Connecting Research and Teaching Practice,
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language? A model for predicting performance in psychology students.
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Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215454413320843125.post-37359123671093986852014-12-29T09:32:00.001-08:002014-12-29T09:32:34.010-08:00The London Schools Effect - what have we learned this week? <h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"></h3><div class="post-header"><br />
</div>Perhaps the biggest question in education policy over the past few years<br />
is why the outcomes for London schools have been improving so much <br />
faster than in the rest of the country. I wrote about it here<br />
last year. Until now there's been little in the way of research into <br />
the question but last week two reports came out - one by the IFS and one<br />
from CFBT - that seek to provide some answers.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
They both agree that the change in GCSE results has been spectacular. <br />
There's plenty of data in both reports on this but I found this graph <br />
from the IFS particularly powerful because it relates to a metric that <br />
isn't something schools are held accountable to - and so feels like <br />
authentic proof that something extraordinary has happened in London.<br /><br />
<br />
<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCsKSUyb317tp0NR5Fu_NWUToCupE1SgZwSmNSomC8J4cRRUssSFStl5nhF_qRtAKftqA6xJ8oOzjsfbrnepiwhFea7gAzZvju5-AwAVzGkZgfSuureFZubaa7fnqxydk9TAnlNdPnYo/s1600/IFS1.png" width="640" /></div><br /><br />
<br /><br />
But what, exactly, has happened? Here the two reports seem to disagree. According to the IFS - whose <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321969/London_Schools_-_FINAL.pdf">analysis</a> is purely quantitative the main reasons are:<br /><br />
<ul><li>Changes in pupil and school characteristics - in particular London <br />
and other inner-city areas have seen an increase in pupils from a range <br />
of ethnic backgrounds (partly) as a result of immigration. The IFS <br />
analysis suggests this accounts for about half the improvement in London<br />
between 2002-2012.</li>
<li>Changes in "prior attainment" - the authors argue that once higher <br />
levels of attainment in key stage 2 (end of primary) tests are taken <br />
into account then the "London effect" in secondaries looks less <br />
impressive. Indeed once prior attainment and changes in pupil/school <br />
characteristics have been controlled for the gap between London and the <br />
rest of the country falls from 21 percentage points in the 5 A*-C GCSE <br />
with English and Maths measure to just 5 percentage points. Moreover <br />
this gap is fairly stable between 2002-2012 - though it does increase a <br />
by about 2 percentage points over the period.</li>
<li>There was a big increase in key stage 2 schools for disadvantaged <br />
pupils between 1999-2003 and that led to big increases in GCSE scores <br />
for these pupils between 2004-08 - but the GCSE improvement was actually<br />
the result of prior attainment. The authors hypothesise this may be due<br />
to the introduction of "national strategies" in primary literacy and <br />
numeracy in the late 90s - these were piloted in inner London <br />
authorities (as well as some other urban areas e.g. Liverpool).</li>
<li>London secondaries do have a better record at getting disadvantaged <br />
pupils to stay in education post-16. After controlling for pupil/school <br />
characteristics they are around 10 percentage points more likely to stay<br />
in education. </li>
</ul><br /><br />
The CFBT <a href="http://cdn.cfbt.com/%7E/media/cfbtcorporate/files/research/2014/r-london-schools-2014.pdf">report</a><br />
does include quantitative analysis but is much more focus on <br />
qualitative research - specifically interviews with headteachers, <br />
academics, civil servants and other experts. This report argues the key <br />
reasons for London's improvement are:<br /><br />
<ul><li>Four key "improvement interventions" between 2002 and 2014 - the <br />
"London Challenge" (a Labour initiative that used data to <br />
focus attention on weaker schools and used better schools to support <br />
their improvement); Teach First; the introduction of sponsored <br />
academies; and improvements driven by local authorities.</li>
<li>They conclude that: <span style="font-family: inherit;">"each of <br />
these interventions played a significant role in driving improvement. <br />
Evaluations of each of these interventions have overall been positive, <br />
although the absence of RCT evidence makes it impossible to identify the<br />
precise gains from each set of activities. The exact causal mix also <br />
varied from borough to borough because there were variations in the <br />
level of involvement in London Challenge, variations in the <br />
effectiveness of local authority activity, variations in the level of <br />
‘academisation’ and variations in the level of input from Teach First."</span></li>
<li>The authors argue that there were cross-cutting themes covering <br />
these interventions and the wider improvement story. In particular - the<br />
better use of data; practitioner-led professional development and, <br />
particularly, leadership - both politically and at school level.</li>
</ul><br /><br />
At first glance it's hard to reconcile the positions taken in the two <br />
reports. The IFS focus on primary, and to a lesser extent pupil <br />
characteristics, while CFBT focus on secondary policy changes. I think, <br />
though, they are two different bits of an extremely complicated jigsaw <br />
that hasn't been finished yet - and because of the lack of evidence/data<br />
- never will be. Like the apocryphal blind men with the elephant <br />
they're looking at different parts of the whole.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
1) Both reports probably underestimate the importance of changes in <br />
pupil characteristics. CFBT completely dismiss this as a driver based on<br />
an inadequate analysis of ethnicity data. The IFS analysis is more <br />
comprehensive and so does pick up a significant effect but may still <br />
miss the true extent because of the limitations of available data on <br />
ethnicity. I think this may explain the extent of the "primary effect" <br />
in the IFS report. Essentially they're saying the big improvements in <br />
GCSE results are partially illusory because they were already built <br />
into those pupils' primary attainment. However, they are unable (because<br />
of a lack of data) to analyse whether those primary results were <em>also partly illusory</em> because those pupils started primary at a higher level.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
There is a clue that this may be a factor in their analysis of Key Stage<br />
1 data for more recent years. Controlling for prior attainment at KS1 <br />
reduces the "London effect" at Key Stage 2 by about half. But the <br />
authors are unable to do this analysis for the crucial 1999-2003 period <br />
when results really improved. They are also unable to look from the <br />
beginning of primary - because we don't have baseline assessments when <br />
pupils start school.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
2) The IFS report probably underestimates the secondary effect. As Chris Cook has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27979096">shown</a> the London secondary effect at least doubles if you exclude equivalents. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
3) The CFBT report definitely underestimates the primary effect because <br />
it doesn't look for it. Thought there are some quotes from people who <br />
worked in local authorities during the crucial period who highlight <br />
their focus on literacy and numeracy during the late 90s.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
So pupil characteristics; primary schools and secondary schools all seem<br />
to have played a role in boosting attainment in London. The CFBT report<br />
is convincing on some of the factors at play in secondaries; the IFS <br />
report is convincing that primaries also played some kind of a role. The<br />
big questions for me after digesting both reports:<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<ul><li>Are there "London specific" pupil characteristics that wouldn't be <br />
apparent from the available data. E.g. are immigrants who go to London <br />
different to those who don't? Are some of the ethnicity effects stronger<br />
than indentified because key groups (e.g. Polish) are hidden in larger <br />
categories?</li>
<li>Are there policy reasons why London primaries improved faster than <br />
those elsewhere in the crucial 1999-2003 period? I struggle to buy the <br />
idea that the national strategies were the key driver here as they were <br />
rolled out nationally (albeit that the pilots were focused on inner <br />
London). But the quotes in the CFBT report suggest their might be <br />
something here around a general focus on literacy/numeracy. This is a <br />
key area for further research.</li>
<li>To what extent were the policy interventions (London Challenge, <br />
academies etc...) the main reasons for secondary improvement? Or was it <br />
more to do with the number of good school leaders during that period? <br />
One of the most interesting tables in the CFBT report - pasted below - <br />
shows that inner London is the only part of the country where <br />
headteacher recruitment has got easier in the last ten year. And the <br />
importance of leadership shines through in the interviews conducted for <br />
the CFBT report. Is it possible to more closely identify the <br />
relationship between individual leaders and school improvement? What can<br />
we learn from these leaders?</li>
</ul><br /><br />
<img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8UO6xQKVK9Tn1XLmLSdo6QOt61bKC3X7zuqLX8AVfstJncJR0a64QEUkfAgcaCkpKSdZypDUr-57dUsWR8yNAodj_OxG4qx4MxOrWMi9P2Z4umH3xFOnOPFYryxi8gAv7OaAvvV4r9I/s1600/Howson.png" width="400" /><br /><br />
And of course the really big question - is any of this replicable in <br />
other areas? We're starting to see a raft of local improvement <br />
initiatives across the country - Wales Challenge; Somerset Challenge; <br />
North East Challenge and so on. It's really important that in these <br />
areas we do a better job of evaluating all the interventions put in <br />
place from the start so that if we see big improvements we have a better<br />
understand of the causes.Khondoker Hafizur Rahmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01326235033462806986noreply@blogger.com0