Measurement invariance of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students: A study across secondary school pupils and university students

School engagement is a multidimensional construct characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption towards academic work that is related to school achievement. This study aimed to examine the measurement invariance of a school engagement measure – the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Students (UWES-S) – across secondary school pupils and university students. Two samples of secondary school pupils (n = 251) and university students (n = 229) were used. The results supported the original three-factor structure (vigour, dedication and absorption) of the UWES-S instead of a two- or a one-factor structure in both samples. Evidence for the metric and scalar invariance of the measure across secondary school pupils and university students was also found. The university sample had higher scores in vigour and absorption but not in dedication. These findings demonstrate that the UWES-S can be used for developmental studies where school engagement and its relation with other variables needs to be compared across distinct educational levels.     

Community Identity Increases Urban Residents' In‐group Emergency Helping Intention

The current study examined how time pressure and community identity affected urban residents' in‐group emergency helping intention with a sample of 88 Chinese urban residents from a common community. Firstly, we instructed participants to fill out the Community Identity Scale. Following this, we set a hypothesized scenario, in which they met a fainted person in community when they left the community either in a hurry or not, to measure helping intention. It was found that time pressure had little impact on urban residents' in‐group helping intention, whereas community identity increased in‐group helping intention. Moreover, emotional identity but not functional identity positively predicted in‐group helping intention. These findings and their implications for community psychology were discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pre- and Postintervention Factor Analysis of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale

The effects of a bystander education intervention program on the factor structure underlying a rape myth acceptance scale were examined using exploratory factor analyses on secondary data. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale was administered to college students at a northwestern university both before (n = 363) and after (n = 352) receiving a bystander education program. Results from exploratory factor analyses showed changes in the factor structure from pretest to posttest. This suggests some instability in the factor structure of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. These pre–post intervention differences in the rape myth acceptance factor structure suggest researchers use caution in using and interpreting scores based on the IRMA without regard to participants’ prevention program status.     

A Closer Look at Eyespot Effects on Voter Turnout: Reply to Matland and Murray

Implicit social pressure, applied via exposure to eyespots in nonpartisan, direct‐mail blandishments to vote, has been shown using randomized field experiments to raise turnout in elections. Similar eyespot effects have been observed across a wide range of prosocial behaviors. A series of recent replications conducted by Matland and Murray (2015) have failed to consistently produce statistically significant eyespot effects on voter turnout, however, leading the authors to conclude the effects observed in previous research were likely illusory. In this article, I rebut this claim, arguing that an alternative, more circumspect interpretation of the authors’ key results points to a different conclusion that supports the notion that eyespots likely stimulate voting, especially when taken together with previous findings.     

These Eyes: A Rejoinder to Panagopoulos on Eyespots and Voter Mobilization

Get‐out‐the‐vote mailers using explicit social pressure consistently increase electoral turnout; however, they often generate a negative reaction or backlash. One approach to increase turnout, yet alleviate backlash, may be to use implicit social pressure. An implicit social pressure technique that has shown promise is to display a set of eyes. Researchers contend eyes generate a feeling of being watched, which cues subjects to act in more prosocial ways to demonstrate compliance with social norms. Several studies support this argument, including two voter mobilization studies. The technique has not been widely tested, however, in the political context. In five randomized field experiments, we test the impact on turnout of mobilization mailers using eye displays. We extend previous research by testing for differences in effects between male and female eyes and across political cultures. The effects are substantively and statistically weak at best and inconsistent with previous findings.     

Effects of duration of wearing high-heeled shoes on plantar pressure

In the present study we investigated the effects of different durations of using high-heeled shoes on plantar pressure and gait. A questionnaire survey and dynamic plantar pressure measurements were performed in 20 control females and 117 females who had worn high-heeled shoes for a long time. According to the duration of using high-heeled shoes (as specified in the questionnaire), subjects were divided into a control group and five groups with different durations of use (i.e. <2 years, 2–5 years, 6–10 years, 11–20 years and >20 years). Parameters, including peak pressure, impulse and pressure duration, in different plantar regions were measured with the Footscan pressure plate. The 2–5 years group had smaller midfoot contact areas for both feet and higher subtalar joint mobility, while the 6–10 years group had larger midfoot contact areas for both feet and prolonged foot flat phase during gait. The peak pressure and impulse under the second and fourth metatarsus were increased with the prolonged wearing of high-heeled shoes, and the pressure and impulse under the midfoot were substantially reduced in the 2–5 years group. The findings suggest that long-term use of high-heeled shoes can induce changes in arch morphology: the longitudinal arch tends to be elevated within 2–5 years; the longitudinal arch tends to be flattened within 6–10 years; and the forefoot latitudinal arch tends to collapse in more than 20 years.     

A Closer Look at the Yardstick: A New Discount Rate Measure with Precision and Range

In intertemporal choice research, choice tasks (i.e., choosing between $80 today and $100 in a year) are often used to elicit a discount rate. The discount rate derived from a choice task, however, is largely restricted by the granularities and ranges of the questions asked. We examined this restriction in three popular discount rate measurements using simulations and experiments, and we propose an alternative procedure (Three‐option Adaptive Discount rate measure (ToAD)), which is capable of measuring a wide range of discount rates (from approximately .035% to 350 000% annual percentage rate) with high precision using 10 questions, in under a minute. ToAD can be easily implemented in online surveys (i.e., Qualtrics). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taking a closer look: time sampling and measurement error

A person manufactured his in-seat behavior for 15, 30-min sessions so that there were three blocks of five sessions where the behavior occurred 20%, 50%, and 80% of the time. Whole interval, partial interval, and momentary time-sample measures of the behavior were taken and compared to the continuous measure of the behavior i.e., per cent of time the behavior occurred. For interval time sampling, the difference between the continuous and sample measures i.e., measurement error, was: (1) extensive, (2) unidirectional, (3) a function of the time per response, and (4) inconsistent across changes in the continuous measure. A procedural analysis demonstrated that the frequency and duration of behavior are confounded in interval time sampling. Momentary time sampling was found to be superior to interval time sampling in estimating the duration a behavior occurs.     

The rasch model,the law of comparative judgment and additive conjoint measurement

Relationships between the Rasch model and both the law of comparative judgment and additive conjoint measurement are discussed. The distance between the ability of Persona and the difficult of Itemi is, in the Rasch model, the baseline value corresponding to the probability thata will respond correctly toi, where this probability is interpreted as the area under a logistic curve (which is substantially equivalent to the normal curve) and is thus an application of the law of comparative judgment. Under certain assumptions, the Rasch model is also a special case of additive conjoint measurement and, properly reinterpreted, may be usefully applied in contexts other than individual differences.