Statistical power in randomized intervention studies with noncompliance

This study examined various factors that affect statistical power in randomized intervention studies with noncompliance. On the basis of Monte Carlo simulations, this study demonstrates how statistical power changes depending on compliance rate, study design, outcome distributions, and covariate information. It also examines how these factors influence power in different methods of estimating intervention effects. Intent-to-treat analysis and complier average causal effect estimation are compared as 2 alternative ways of estimating intervention effects under noncompliance. The results of this investigation provide practical implications in designing and evaluating intervention studies taking into account noncompliance.     

Methods to decrease attrition in longitudinal studies with adolescents

A summary of methods to decrease attrition in longitudinal school-based studies conducted with adolescents beginning junior high schools or middle schools is presented. These include collection of contact information about students, additional days to collect data from absentee students, data collection in new high schools once students graduate from junior high schools or middle schools, sending questionnaires by mail, and conducting telephone or home interviews.     

Personality has minor effects on panel attrition

In light of the recent interest in using longitudinal panel data to study personality development, it is important to know if personality traits are related to panel attrition. We analyse the effects of personality on panel drop-out separately for an ‘older’ subsample (started in 1984), a relatively ‘young’ subsample (started in 2000), and a ‘new’ subsample (started in 2009) of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study. We found that openness slightly decreases the probability of panel drop-out in all three samples. For the ‘older’ subsample only, we found a small negative effect of agreeableness on panel drop-out. We control for age, sex, education, migration background, and the number of inhabitants in the region of the respondents.     

Rational noncompliance with prescribed medical treatment

Despite the attention that patient noncompliance has received from medical researchers, patient noncompliance remains poorly understood and difficult to alter. With a better theory of patient noncompliance, both greater success in achieving compliance and greater respect for patient decision making are likely. The theory presented, which uses a microeconomic approach, bridges a gap in the extant literature that has so far ignored the contributions of this classic perspective on decision making involving the tradeoff of costs and benefits. The model also generates a surprising conclusion: that patients are typically acting rationally when they refuse to comply with certain treatments. However, compliance is predicted to rise with increased benefits and reduced costs. The prediction that noncompliance is rational is especially true in chronic conditions at the point that treatment begins to move closer to the medically ideal treatment level. Although the details of this theory have not been tested empirically, it is well supported by existing prospective and retrospective studies.     

Deception by young children following noncompliance

A paradigm devised by M. Lewis, C. Stanger, and M. W. Sullivan (1989) was adapted to study deception and false-belief understanding. In Study 1, 3- and 5-year-olds were asked not to touch a toy in the experimenter's absence. Just over half of the children touched the toy, and of those children, the majority denied having done so. Of control children who were given permission to touch the toy, all touched it and admitted having done so. In Study 2, 3- and 5-year-olds were asked not to look in a box to identify its contents. Almost all children looked, most denied having looked, and a minority consistently feigned ignorance of the contents. False-belief understanding was linked to denial of looking but not to feigning ignorance. Of control children who were given permission to look, all acknowledged looking, and they almost always revealed their knowledge of the contents. The studies confirm that preschoolers deceive in the context of a minor misdemeanor but are less effective at feigning ignorance.     

Cluster randomized trials with treatment noncompliance

Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) have been widely used in field experiments treating a cluster of individuals as the unit of randomization. This study focused particularly on situations where CRTs are accompanied by a common complication, namely, treatment noncompliance or, more generally, intervention nonadherence. In CRTs, compliance may be related not only to individual characteristics but also to the environment of clusters individuals belong to. Therefore, analyses ignoring the connection between compliance and clustering may not provide valid results. Although randomized field experiments often suffer from both noncompliance and clustering of the data, these features have been studied as separate rather than concurrent problems. On the basis of Monte Carlo simulations, this study demonstrated how clustering and noncompliance may affect statistical inferences and how these two complications can be accounted for simultaneously. In particular, the effect of the intervention on individuals who not only were assigned to active intervention but also abided by this intervention assignment (complier average causal effect) was the focus. For estimation of intervention effects considering noncompliance and data clustering, an ML-EM estimation method was employed.     

The effect of time-out release contingencies on changes in child noncompliance

This project evaluated the effect of time-out release contingencies on changes in child noncompliance to maternal instructions. Twenty-four clinic-referred, noncompliant, preschool children served as subjects. Each child was assessed under baseline conditions and then under one of three experimental conditions: Parent Release, Child Release, or Control. Children in the Parent Release and Child Release conditions experienced time-out contingent upon noncompliance. Temporal and behavioral time-out release contingencies were present in the Parent Release condition but not in the Child Release condition. A spanking procedure was used to inhibit premature escape from time-out for children in the Parent Release group. The results indicated that both time-out groups demonstrated increased compliance ratios. However, improvement associated with the Child Release condition was considered to be clinically insignificant.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dave DeLawyer, Larry Snapp, and Mike Samac for their assistance in conducting the study.     

Early attrition among suicidal clients

The study aimed to identify the level of suicidal ideation in early attrition clients and their reasons for the early termination of their therapy. The cross-sectional design involved early attrition clients (C_A) who withdrew from therapy before their second session (n?=?61), and continuing clients who (C_C) progressed beyond their second session (n?=?73). All completed the Suicidal Behaviours Questionnaire-Revised scale, and the C_A group also completed the Reasons for Terminating Therapy Scale. Clients were significantly more likely to disengage if they were self-referred, had no health-care support or had lower suicidal ideation. The study identifies the significant role of suicidal ideation and referral source in therapy retention and the implications this has for therapists and counsellors.     

The effects of verbal and behavioral noncompliance on third party instigation of aggression

Females, assigned to one of four conditions defined in terms of a confederate's behavior, suggested which shock intensity the confederate ought to set for an opponent during a reaction time competition, should the opponent lose the trial (had slower reaction time). Confederates either verbally complied or disagreed with suggestions to set high shock, while either actually setting the intensity suggested or setting a lower intensity. Over trials, the opponent became increasingly provocative. Results revealed the main effects and interaction of confederate's verbal and actual behaviors, as well as provocativeness of the opponent, significantly influenced the level of shock subjects suggested. Subjects with verbally and behaviorally compliant confederates suggested more intense shock than subjects who encountered any noncompliance.     

Functional analysis and treatment of noncompliance by preschool children

A functional analysis showed that noncompliance occurred most often for 2 preschoolers when it resulted in termination of a preferred activity, suggesting that noncompliance was maintained by positive reinforcement. A differential reinforcement procedure, which involved contingent access to coupons that could be exchanged for uninterrupted access to the activity maintaining noncompliance, was successful in increasing compliance for both children.     

The biasing effects of selection and attrition on estimating the mean

Organizational and validation researchers often work with data that has been subjected to selection on the predictor and attrition on the criterion. These researchers often use the data observed under these conditions to estimate either the predictor or criterion's restricted population means. We show that the restricted means due to direct or indirect selection are a function of the population means plus the selection ratios. Thus, any difference between selected mean groups reflects the population difference plus the selection ratio difference. When there is also attrition on the criterion, the estimation of group differences becomes even more complicated. The effect of selection and attrition induces measurement bias when estimating the restricted population mean of either the predictor or criterion. A sample mean observed under selection and attrition does not estimate either the population mean or the restricted population mean. We propose several procedures under normality that yield unbiased estimates of the mean. The procedures focus on correcting the effects of selection and attrition. Each procedure was evaluated with a Monte Carlo simulation to ascertain its strengths and weaknesses. Given appropriate sample size and conditions, we show that these procedures yield unbiased estimators of the restricted and unrestricted population means for both predictor and criterion. We also show how our findings have implications for replicating selected group differences.     

An examination of predictor variables for child compliance and noncompliance

The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of child compliance and noncompliance. Both maternal and child behaviors served as predictors. Fifty-six clinic-referred children and their mothers served as subjects. Data were collected in the home setting by independent observers. Four multiple regression analyses were performed. The results indicated that the behavior immediately preceding child compliance or noncompliance typically was the best predictor. Furthermore, the antecedents for child compliance and noncompliance differed. For maternal antecedents, the type of command that served as the best predictor for child compliance and noncompliance differed; however, the final predictor equation was similar for the two types of child behaviors. For child antecedents, compliance was best predicted by compliance and noncompliance was best predicted by noncompliance. The results are discussed in terms of Patterson's coercion hypothesis.     

Reducing online application redundancy: Effects on applicant attrition and quality

Job applications have long been a staple of the hiring process and online applications have rapidly become the new norm. The ability to examine applicant attrition—those who start the application but do not finish—and applicant quality are the two benefits of online applications. This study evaluates the effect of reducing application redundancy (not making applicants re‐enter information contained on their resumes) on applicant attrition and quality, with hypotheses derived from signaling theory and economics (cost/benefits). Results demonstrate that reducing redundancy leads to a reduction in applicant attrition across jobs, with the largest magnitude of change found in computer‐related jobs. This reduced attrition does not reduce applicant quality and some evidence suggests that applicant quality may even increase.