Quantifying false positives in simulated events using partial interval recording and momentary time sampling with dual‐criteria methods

The dual‐criteria (DC) and conservative dual‐criteria (CDC) methods allow clinicians and researchers to quantify the occurrence of false‐positive outcomes within single‐case experimental designs. The purpose of the current study was to use these DC and CDC methods to measure the incidence of false positives with simulated data collected via discontinuous interval methods (i.e., momentary time sampling, partial‐interval recording) as a function of data series length. We generated event data to create 316,800 unique simulated data series for analysis. In Experiment 1, we evaluated how changes in relevant parameters (i.e., interval sizes, event durations, IRT‐to‐event‐run ratios) produced false positives with momentary time sampling procedures. We also assessed the degree that the CDC method produced fewer false positives than the DC method with simulated interval data. In Experiment 2, we used similar procedures to quantify the occurrence of false positives with partial‐interval recording data. We successfully replicated outcomes from previous research in the current study, though such results only highlight the generality of the procedures relating to false positive (and not false negative) outcomes. That is, these results indicate MTS and PIR may adequately control for false positives, but our conclusions are limited by a lack of data on power.     

Balance between volunteer work and family roles: Testing a theoretical model of work‐family conflict in the volunteer emergency services

Trends indicate overall declines in numbers of volunteer emergency service workers and suggest negative organisational factors impacting adversely on volunteers and organisations. Conflict between emergency service work and family is implicated in falling volunteer numbers, and there is thus a need for research on difficulties experienced in balancing volunteer work and family. The current study tested an adaptation of the work‐family conflict (WFC) model originally proposed by Frone, Russell, and Cooper, in a sample of 102 couples in which one partner was an Australian emergency service volunteer. Results supported a model in which volunteer work‐related antecedents, including time invested in on‐call emergency activities and post‐traumatic stress symptoms, had indirect links with outcomes, including volunteer burnout and their partners' support for the volunteer work role, through the effects of WFC. These results add to research using theoretical models of paid work processes to better understand the problems faced by volunteer workers, and identify specific antecedents and outcomes of WFC in the volunteer emergency services. Implications for future research and organisations reliant on volunteer workers are discussed.     

Observer reliability as a function of circumstances of assessment

THREE FACTORS CHARACTERISTIC OF EXPERIMENTAL SETTINGS WERE HYPOTHESIZED TO INFLATE ARTIFACTUALLY THE RELIABILITY OF OBSERVATIONAL RECORDINGS: (a) knowledge by observers of when and by whom their reliability is being assessed, (b) the absence of the experimenter or a monitor to prevent cheating, and (c) computation of reliability within- (versus between-) observer group. Three groups of four observers used a standard nine-category observational code for disruptive behavior in recording from videotapes of a classroom for 22 days. Analyses revealed considerable increases in average occurrence reliability as a function of the main effects of each of the experimental factors. The specific increases in reliability associated with each of the 12 combinations of the experimental factors are presented for each category of behavior. The possible role of observer-training procedures and behavioral definitions as determiners of nonartifactual reliability is discussed.     

Personal vulnerability and work‐home interaction: The effect of job performance‐based self‐esteem on work/home conflict and facilitation

Innstrand, S. T., Langballe, E. M., Espnes, G. A., Aasland, O. G. & Falkum, E. (2010). Personal vulnerability and work‐home interaction: The effect of job performance‐based self‐esteem on work/home conflict and facilitation. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 480–487. The aim of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between job performance‐based self‐esteem (JPB‐SE) and work‐home interaction (WHI) in terms of the direction of the interaction (work‐to‐home vs. home‐to‐work) and the effect (conflict vs. facilitation). A sample of 3,475 respondents from eight different occupational groups (lawyers, physicians, nurses, teachers, church ministers, bus drivers, and people working in advertising and information technology) supplied data at two points of time with a two‐year time interval. The two‐wave, cross‐lagged structural equations modeling (SEM) analysis demonstrated reciprocal relationships between these variables, i.e., job performance‐based self‐esteem may act as a precursor as well as an outcome of work‐home interaction. The strongest association was between job performance‐based self‐esteem and work‐to‐home conflict. Previous research on work‐home interaction has mainly focused on situational factors. This longitudinal study expands the work‐home literature by demonstrating how individual vulnerability (job performance‐based self‐esteem) contributes to the explanation of work‐home interactions.     

Affective and effective: Military job performance as a function of work‐related emotional intelligence

The military is a highly stressful career that requires one to work closely with others. These features of the military render it plausible that skills related to emotional perception and management—or emotional intelligence—would tend to benefit performance within this setting. Hypotheses of this type were examined in a panel study that presented 152 active duty military personnel with a new scenario‐based measure that specifically focused on emotional occurrences within the workplace. As hypothesized, work‐related emotional intelligence (W‐EI) positively predicted task performance, discipline, organizational citizenship, and employees with higher W‐EI levels received a greater number of performance commendations. Additionally, these relationships tended to remain significant in discriminant multiple regressions. Altogether, the results provide important evidence for the benefits of W‐EI within an occupational context that requires a high degree of coordination as well as stress management.     

Effects of work‐related norm violations and general beliefs about the world on feelings of shame and guilt: A comparison between Turkey and the Netherlands

This paper aimed at investigating the effects of work‐related norm violations (i.e., violations of interpersonal and work regulation norms) and individuals' general beliefs about the world (i.e., social axioms: reward for application, social cynicism) on feelings of shame and guilt in Turkey and in the Netherlands. An experimental study involving 103 Turkish and 111 Dutch participants showed that work norm violations elicited feelings of guilt and shame differently in Turkey and the Netherlands. Specifically, interpersonal norm violation in Turkey elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly than did violation of a work regulation norm, whereas no differential effects were found in the Netherlands. As expected, violation of a work regulation norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in the Netherlands than in Turkey, whereas violation of an interpersonal norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in Turkey than in the Netherlands. The findings provide further evidence for the moderating effects of social axioms: in both countries, participants high in social cynicism felt less ashamed when they violated a work regulation norm than did those low in social cynicism. Our findings are relevant for understanding the underlying mechanisms of norm violations at work, thereby offering a new avenue for investigating cultural differences in the workplace. The latter may be of particular relevance in times of globalization and diversity in the workplace.     

Investigating a socially anxious‐impulsive subgroup of adolescents: A prospective community study

Previous research has identified a subgroup of socially anxious adults who are both anxious and impulsive. To date, however, this subgroup has not been identified in adolescence. Therefore, in this study we aimed to identify this subgroup in a sample of adolescents. In addition, we hypothesized that this subgroup would be higher on problem behaviors, and that these processes would be moderated by gender. We used longitudinal data from 714 adolescents who were in the 7th and 8th grades at Time 1. They were followed annually for three years. Cluster analyses identified an anxious‐inhibited subgroup as well as an anxious‐impulsive subgroup in early adolescence (Time 1). The socially anxious‐impulsive adolescent boys were generally higher on both intoxication frequency and delinquency compared with all other adolescents in all clusters at each time point. Findings suggest that social anxiety subgroups may differ on problem behavior, and that early detection of an anxious‐impulsive subgroup may be important to prevent maladjustment, especially for adolescent boys.     

Meaningful patterns of activity amongst the long‐term inner city unemployed: a qualitative study

A number of studies have sought to establish the social psychological factors involved in the maintenance of active lifestyles during long‐term unemployment. The aim of this study was to describe and account for the development and maintenance of different patterns of activity, with reference to their perceived meaningfulness. This was undertaken with a sample of Birmingham's inner city, long‐term unemployed population recruited from three inner city Jobcentres, including men and women, and White, Asian and African Caribbean participants (N = 24). Interviews were conducted using a semi‐structured interview guide. Using the qualitative software program, NUD.IST, the data were analysed according to the principles of the grounded theory approach. Activities were characterized as: domestic; educational; work‐like; socializing; and none. A model of meaningful activity in the context of formal unemployment was developed. The main components of the model were: features of formal employment that inhibited participants' engagement in it; the requirements for personal meaningful activity (challenging activity, effort and commitment, and being valued by others); the consequences of meaningful activity (opportunities for self‐determination and self‐development, and achievement, competence, and confidence) and consolidating factors (social comparison, self‐appraisal, religious and political beliefs, and social support). Theories of unemployment of Jahoda, Warr, and Fryer are considered in the light of the present findings. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An observational measure of children's behavioural style: Evidence supporting a multi‐method approach to studying temperament

This study demonstrates the potential utility of the Behavioural Style Observational System (BSOS) as a new observational measure of children's behavioural style. The BSOS is an objective, short and easy to use measure that can be readily adapted to a variety of home and laboratory situations. In the present study, 160 mother–child dyads from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project (CLRP) were observed during an 11‐min behavioural sample. Videotaped interactions were coded using the BSOS for children's mood, activity level, vocal reactivity, approach to toys, mood consistency and adaptability. Comparisons between the BSOS observational ratings and mothers' ratings of the child on the EAS Temperament Survey (EAS) provided support for modest congruence between these two measurement systems, and revealed a differential predictive pattern of children's functioning. Specifically, the observation‐based BSOS predicted children's cognitive performance and adaptive behaviour during testing, whereas the mother‐rated EAS predicted maternal ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Both measures were found to independently predict mothers' ratings of parenting stress. Overall, the findings imply that neither observational measures nor maternal ratings alone are sufficient to understand children's behavioural style, and that comprehensive evaluations of children's temperament should optimally include both types of measures. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Henry David Thoreau's Anti‐Work Spirituality and a New Theological Ethic of Work

Although Henry David Thoreau stands outside the Christian canon, his outlook on the relations among spirituality, ecology, and economy highlights how Christian theologians can develop a theological work ethic in our era of economic and ecological precarity. He can furthermore help theologians counter the pro‐work bias in much Christian thought. In Walden, Thoreau shows that the best work is an ascetic practice that reveals and reaps the abundance of nature and connects the person to the immanent divine and thereby glimpsing eternity. Thoreau thus offers the outline of a transformed theology of work even as he challenges Protestant vocationalism in the early industrial era. He is therefore a fitting if challenging guide for formulating a theology of the self as agent and product of work, at a moment when the postindustrial ideal of work that is both meaningful and remunerative seems ever more unattainable while the negative impact of our work on nonhuman nature is ever more apparent.     

Assessing functions of stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean transitions using a choice procedure

Under fixed‐ratio schedules, transitions from more to less favorable conditions of reinforcement (rich‐to‐lean transitions) usually generate extended pausing. One possible explanation for this effect is that stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean transitions are aversive and, thus, extended pausing functions as escape. The purpose of this study was to characterize further the aversive function of different transitions, and the stimuli associated with them, by allowing pigeons to choose to complete select ratios in the presence of either a mixed‐schedule stimulus or a transition‐specific multiple‐schedule stimulus. The mixed schedule was preferred during transitions that signaled an upcoming lean reinforcer (rich‐to‐lean and lean‐to‐lean), whereas the multiple schedule was preferred during transitions that signaled an upcoming rich reinforcer (lean‐to‐rich and rich‐to‐rich). These findings support the notion that stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean (and to some extent lean‐to‐lean) transitions can function aversively; whereas stimuli associated with other transitions (e.g., lean‐to‐rich and rich‐to‐rich) can function as conditioned reinforcers. When the opportunity to choose between schedule‐correlated stimuli was available, however, choice latency was controlled exclusively by the multiple‐schedule stimulus. That is, the opportunity to select the mixed schedule did not attenuate rich‐to‐lean pauses, suggesting that extended pausing may be more than simply escape.     

Online monitoring of the social presence effects in a two‐person‐like driving video game using near‐infrared spectroscopy

We examined how a friend's presence affects a performer's prefrontal activation in daily‐life activities using two wireless portable near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices. Participants played a driving video game either solely in the single group or with a friend in the paired group. The two groups (single and paired) were subdivided according to their game proficiency (low and high). The NIRS data demonstrated a significant interaction of group by proficiency. Low‐proficiency players in the paired group showed lower activation than those in the single group, but high‐proficiency players did not. In the paired group, high‐proficiency players showed higher activation than low‐proficiency players, but not in the single group. These results suggest that NIRS detects social presence effects in everyday situations: decreasing prefrontal activation in low‐proficiency performers due to tension reduction and increasing prefrontal activation in high‐proficiency performers due to increased arousal.     

Longitudinal Changes of Planned Happenstance Skills by Gender,Community Types,and Employment Status in a Sample of College Students in School‐to‐Work Transition

This study examined the characteristics of college students who are transitioning from school to work by measuring their mean differences on planned happenstance skills subscales at 3 separate time points. The results indicated that the mean of planned happenstance skills changed across the 3 time points and are somewhat different through demographic factors, such as gender, community types, and employment status. In addition, 2‐way and 3‐way multivariate analysis of variance results showed that the interaction effects of 3 demographic variables on 5 planned happenstance skills were not significant. Practical implications for career counselors are discussed.     

Practice‐based supervision research: A network of researchers using a common toolkit

Aim: Given that various systematic reviews of supervision literature have revealed how little is known about supervision, that studies are not usually routed in practice, and that a multitude of diverse measures are used, the primary aim of this project was to support and encourage practitioner research related to supervision using a prescribed common set of instruments. Method: Funded by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), a Supervision Research Practice Network (SuPReNet) was established. A toolkit (a series of measures) that could be used routinely by practitioners was selected following the assembly of available measures of supervision and an assessment of them. Findings: The appraisal, conducted by the three authors, yielded five core measures, free for anyone to use, and accessible through the SuPReNet website. The measures are being piloted through a practice research network at a university counselling and psychotherapy research clinic where supervision data are being collected through a special module of CORE Net. Discussion: The potential yield from this initiative for practitioners, researchers, and the developing evidence‐base is discussed and a model proposed for the next generation of research on supervision.