Meta‐analysis methods for risk differences

The difference between two proportions, referred to as a risk difference, is a useful measure of effect size in studies where the response variable is dichotomous. Confidence interval methods based on a varying coefficient model are proposed for combining and comparing risk differences from multi‐study between‐subjects or within‐subjects designs. The proposed methods are new alternatives to the popular constant coefficient and random coefficient methods. The proposed varying coefficient methods do not require the constant coefficient assumption of effect size homogeneity, nor do they require the random coefficient assumption that the risk differences from the selected studies represent a random sample from a normally distributed superpopulation of risk differences. The proposed varying coefficient methods are shown to have excellent finite‐sample performance characteristics under realistic conditions.     

Collins’ core fine-tuning argument

Collins (The Blackwell companion to natural theology, 2009) presents an argument he calls the ‘core fine-tuning argument’. In this paper, I show that Collins’ argument is flawed in at least two ways. First, the structure, depending on likelihoods, fails to establish anything about the posterior probability of God’s existence given fine-tuning. As an argument for God’s existence, this is a serious failing. Second, his analysis of what is appropriately restricted background knowledge, combined with the credences of a specially chosen ‘alien’, do not allow him to establish the premise \( \Pr (LPU \mid NSU~ \& ~k') \ll 1\) .     

Going to School with Friedrich Nietzsche: The Self in Service of Noble Culture

To understand Nietzsche’s pedagogy of self-overcoming and to determine its true import for contemporary education, it is necessary to understand Nietzsche’s view of the self that is to be overcome. Nevertheless, previous interpretations of self-overcoming in the journals of the philosophy of education have lacked serious engagement with the Nietzschean self. I devote the first part of this paper to redressing this neglect and arguing for a view of the Nietzschean self as an assemblage of ontologically basic affects which have been guided and modulated by the incorporation of perspectives. This interpretation has important consequences for self-overcoming, for it constrains the individual’s conscious agency to operations on perspectives. In light of this view I then advance a competing conception of self-overcoming and discuss some of the shortcomings of antecedent interpretations. Although previous interpreters have done their part to exhaust the characteristic actions of self-overcoming, I argue that they have either exaggerated the deleteriousness of social influence in the formation of the authentic individual, or else ignore it altogether. In the final part I reconsider the debate over the democratic or aristocratic nature of Nietzsche’s pedagogy of self-overcoming. Interestingly, self-overcoming cannot be labeled strictly as either, and out of this ambiguity grows the role of the school as an agent of cultural transformation.     

Reply to Kenneth Thomas's “Wild Analysis in Politics”

We try to clarify Kenneth Thomas's (“Wild Analysis in Politics”) mistakes about our analysis of the question: Do right‐wing authoritarian (RWA) beliefs originate from psychological conflict? We suggest, contrary to Thomas's analysis, an approach that builds on the kinds of psychodynamic causes we use to explain RWA and the importance of confirming them empirically.     

Speech Acts and Indirect Threats in Ad Baculum Arguments. A Reply to Budzynska and Witek

The importance of speech acts for analyzing and evaluating argumentation in cases where it is suspected that the ad baculum fallacy has been committed is demonstrated in this paper by using a typical textbook example of this fallacy. It is shown how the argument in the example can be analyzed and evaluated using the devices of Gricean implicature and indirect speech acts. It is shown how these two devices can be applied to extrapolate the evidence furnished by the text and dialectical context of the example.     

The Relationship Between Effort and Moral Worth: Three Amendments to Sorensen’s Model

Kelly Sorensen defends a model of the relationship between effort and moral worth in which the effort exerted in performing a morally desirable action contributes positively to the action’s moral worth, but the effort required to perform the action detracts from its moral worth. I argue that Sorensen’s model, though on the right track, is mistaken in three ways. First, it fails to capture the relevance of counterfactual effort to moral worth. Second, it wrongly implies that exerting unnecessary effort confers moral worth on an action. Third, it fails to adequately distinguish between cases in which effort is required because of defects of moral character and those in which effort is required because of barriers external to moral character, such as social pressures or non-moral cognitive deficits. I suggest three amendments to Sorensen’s model that correct these three defects.     

Genetic Testing of Children for Predisposition to Mood Disorders: Anticipating the Clinical Issues

Large-scale sequencing information may provide a basis for genetic tests for predisposition to common disorders. In this study, participants in the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative (N?=?53) with a personal and/or family history of Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder were interviewed based on the Health Belief Model around hypothetical intention to test one’s children for probability of developing a mood disorder. Most participants (87 %) were interested in a hypothetical test for children that had high (“90 %”) positive predictive value, while 51 % of participants remained interested in a modestly predictive test (“20 %”). Interest was driven by beliefs about effects of test results on parenting behaviors and on discrimination. Most participants favored testing before adolescence (64 %), and were reluctant to share results with asymptomatic children before adulthood. Participants anticipated both positive and negative effects of testing on parental treatment and on children’s self-esteem. Further investigation will determine whether these findings will generalize to other complex disorders for which early intervention is possible but not clearly demonstrated to improve outcomes. More information is also needed about the effects of childhood genetic testing and sharing of results on parent–child relationships, and about the role of the child in the decision-making process.     

USING CALIBRATION AND INTEROBSERVER AGREEMENT ALGORITHMS TO ASSESS THE ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF DATA FROM ELECTRONIC AND PEN‐AND‐PAPER CONTINUOUS RECORDING METHODS

Often it is assumed that electronic recording by observers necessarily provides better quality data than pen‐and‐paper methods. Fifteen novice observers recorded rates of responding from 10 role‐played video samples using one of three continuous recording input formats: keyboard (laptop), touchscreen (personal digital assistants), or pen‐and‐paper. We evaluated the quality of the observers' data compared with criterion records using calibration and interobserver agreement algorithms. Results of the calibration analysis revealed that observers in the touchscreen group produced the most consistently accurate and precise data, the keyboard group observers showed wide variation in precision and accuracy, and the pen‐and‐paper group observers were significantly less precise than the touchscreen group. We conclude that although electronic recording has the potential to be as accurate as, and more precise than, pen‐and‐paper methods, this is far from guaranteed. Analyses of observers' errors advise recommendations for improving data accuracy and precision when using each method. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.