Influence analysis of ranking data

This paper develops diagnostic measures to identify those observations in Thurstonian models for ranking data which unduly influence parameter estimates that are obtained by the partition maximum likelihood approach of Chan and Bentler (1998). Diagnostic measures are constructed by employing the local influence approach that uses geometric techniques to assess the effect of small perturbations on a postulated statistical model. Very little additional effort is required to compute the proposed diagnostic measures, because all of the necessary building blocks are readily available after a usual fit of the model. The work described in this paper was partially supported by the grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Ref. No. CUHK4186/98P and RGC Direct Grant ID2060178). The authors are grateful to the Editor and four anonymous referees for their helpful comments.     

The Implicit Life Satisfaction Measure

The Implicit Association Test, developed by Greenwald and colleagues in 1998, was adapted to measure satisfaction with life by assessing the strength of automatic associations of My life with Good- versus Bad-related words. A series of studies explored some psychometric as well as methodological properties of the Implicit Life Satisfaction measure (ILS). The ILS demonstrated good internal consistency and moderate temporal stability. Studies revealed that: (i) the type of stimuli used for target and attribute categories influences the magnitude of the ILS effect; (ii) participants could voluntarily suppress their satisfaction with life on the ILS, but not enhance it; and (iii) handedness of categories did not affect the participants' performance on the ILS. Overall, the ILS measures are: (i) independent of traditional life satisfaction self-report measures; and (ii) positive for most people.     

控制糖尿病的新观念和基本方略之管见

跟踪糖尿病发展趋势、吸收新理论和新技术、做好科普宣传、推行超强化治疗、坚持医学理性精神是控制糖尿病的新观念.其基本方略就是超强化治疗、控制高血压,拮抗新生2型糖尿病及其并发症、控制相关危险因素.     

The experiences of therapists using a new client‐centred psychometric instrument,PSYCHLOPS (Psychological Outcome Profiles)

PSYCHLOPS (‘Psychological Outcome Profiles’) is a newly developed client‐generated psychometric instrument which can be used as an outcome measure. Uniquely, it asks clients to state their own problems, in their own words. As part of its validation, we used it alongside an existing measure, CORE‐OM (‘Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure’). Based on a qualitative methodology, we report here on the first‐hand experiences of four therapists using both instruments. The key themes that emerged from therapists’ responses were feasibility, validity and usefulness. Both questionnaires were perceived as complementing each other, the qualitative information from PSYCHLOPS balancing the quantitative information from CORE‐OM and that both could contribute to the therapist‐client interaction. The key features of PSYCHLOPS are likely to prove attractive to therapists and should increase acceptance and uptake of outcome measures.     

内隐学习的主观测量标准

近40年来,验证知识的内隐性一直是内隐学习研究的焦点。传统三大范式常以自由言语报告或是迫选测验作为验证知识内隐性的外显指标,然而各种迹象表明,言语报告和迫选测验存在一定的局限性。由此,Dienes等人提出了内隐学习的主观测量。文章将从言语报告和追选测验的局限性着手,阐述主观测量诞生的必要性及其在衡量知识意识性上的效度。     

The interplay of attention and bimanual coordination dynamics

Despite their common origin, studies on motor coordination and on attentional load have developed into separate fields of investigation, bringing out findings, methods, and theories which are diverse if not mutually exclusive. Sitting at the intersection of these two fields, this article addresses the issue of behavioral flexibility by investigating how intention modifies the stability of existing patterns of coordination between moving limbs. It addresses the issue, largely ignored until now, of the attentional cost incurred by the central nervous system (CNS) in maintaining a coordination pattern at a given level of stability, in particular under different attentional priority requirements. The experimental paradigm adopted in these studies provides an original mix of a classical measure of attentional load, namely, reaction time, and of a dynamic approach to coordination, most suitable for characterizing the dynamic properties of coordinated behavior and behavioral change. Findings showed that central cost and pattern stability covary, suggesting that bimanual coordination and the attentional activity of the CNS involved in maintaining such a coordination bear on the same underlying dynamics. Such a conclusion provides a strong support to a unified approach to coordination encompassing a conceptualization in terms of information processing and another, more recent framework rooted in self-organization theories and dynamical systems models     

对SARS病人及相关人员实施隔离等强制措施的思考

对SARS病人及相关人员采取隔离等强制措施是有效控制疫情扩展的重要和主要手段,但同时也是剥夺公民人身自由的一种行为。SARS防治的要求与现行法律存在着一定的冲突;紧急特殊情况下的行政应急措施应属必要。对相关法律进行完善,严格依照法定的条件符合法定程序实施强制措施,才能既有利于控制疫情又充分保障被隔离者的合法权益。     

Reliability and validity of an auditing tool for person-centred psychotherapy and counselling for young people: The PCEPS-YP

The present study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the Person Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale–Young Person version (PCEPS-YP). This is a newly developed and adapted 9-item scale which aims to measure counsellor competences in, and adherence to, person-centred practice, when working with adolescents. Counselling practice was assessed for 19 counsellors by randomly selecting 20-min audio segments from 142 recorded counselling sessions. Audio material was independently rated by eight raters using the PCEPS-YP to produce an average adherence rating per counsellor. Scale reliability was assessed via interrater reliability and internal consistency testing. Convergent validity was tested using ratings from the observer-rated Barrett-Leonard Relationship Inventory (BLRI Obs 40), and the scale was subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Results showed a high degree of internal consistency within raters (α = 0.95), marginally acceptable reliability across grouped raters (α = 0.58) and weaker reliability between pairs of raters (α = 0.50). Exploratory factor analysis revealed one strong factor for the scale with no subscales. Small-to-moderate correlations existed between the PCEPS-YP and the BLRI subscales and mean total score (rs = .12 to .40). Our findings suggest that the PCEPS-YP has potential as an effective, reliable and valid tool for assessing competence and adherence in person-centred practice with young people, both for research and for clinical purposes. However, training procedures need to be established that can enhance interrater reliability, and more evidence of convergent validity is needed.     

A still further note on freeman's measure of association

This article demonstrates that Freeman's theta, a measure of association between a nominal variable and an ordinal variable, has a sampling distribution identical with the sampling distribution of Mann-Whitney'sU.