No description available.

Depression is heterogeneous, however, depression measures conceptualize it as homogeneous. To help fulfill NIMH's strategic plan to focus on components of depression, this study analyzed the psychometrics of factor-based subscales in the BDI-II, CES-D, IDAS, and IDS. CCA was also used to explore redundancy across measures. Using a diverse sample of symptomatic undergraduates, this study found the IDAS to be the best measure, with complete DSM-IV symptom coverage and psychometrically sound subscales. The other measures did not have consistent subscales or coverage of symptoms. Furthermore, CCA revealed low levels of redundancy across measures. These results serve to disabuse the field of a perception that different measures of equivalently measure depression. Conversion tables were provided to empirically compare scores from different measures.

Safety interventions must be approached in a holistic manner, by taking cognisance of the organisational system in which accidents present themselves. Thus, a need to understand the individual in context of the organisational system that he/she functions in exists. This study focuses on the relationship between attitudes, beliefs, intention, perception, control and the propensity of employees to engage in unsafe behaviour, with a view towards improving safety statistics. In this regard the study investigated the construct validity of a Safety Survey instrument, based on the responses (n=450) of employees in the mining industry. An Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the Safety Survey instrument differentiated between two to three underlying factors. The result of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis tested two models by demonstrating the minimum requirements of the goodness of fit indexes. The construct validity of the Safety Survey instrument could be established for two nested models that identified an internal and external locus of control factor. The statistical evidence indicated an acceptable model fit. The statistical evidence validated the construct validity of the measurement model. Copyright 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Windbacher, M 2008, Determining the construct validity of the safety survey instrument, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02202012-123434 / > C12/4/66/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The advent of the Internet in personnel selection has brought with it many opportunities, challenges and concerns. The opportunities afforded to the employer include, among others, increased security, a reduction in the resources needed, reduced geographical constraints, reduced time to hire, immediate scoring and a lowering of costs. Owing to these benefits, the use of the Internet for psychological testing will continue to become more prevalent in personnel selection over the next few years. The use and acceptance of the Internet has encouraged organisations and assessment practitioners to make use of Internet-delivered testing as the preferred mode of administration, especially in view of the benefits that it offers to the employer, as well as to the candidate. Internet-delivered testing brings with it a few concerns and many organisations are still making use of the paper-and-pencil version of an instrument even though it is available in an online version. This is because of concerns over measurement equivalence, as the paper-and-pencil version is seen as a “safer” and more accepted mode of administration. There are also many test publishers that would like to take advantage of the practicability of Internet-delivered testing by converting their current selection procedures to an Internet format. This conversion cannot simply be assumed and needs to be examined and documented for each instrument. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the construct equivalence of the Customer Contact Styles Questionnaire (CCSQ7.2) when it is administered via paper-and-pencil in the presence of a proctor and when it is administered online in the absence of a proctor. The aim is to determine whether the online version of the CCSQ7.2 can be considered equivalent to its paper-and-pencil counterpart without loss of psychometric property. The results of the study revealed that the mode in which the CCSQ7.2 is administered does not compromise scale reliabilities and that the relationship between scales of the CCSQ7.2 are not affected by modes of administration. It can thus be said with confidence that the online version of the CCSQ7.2 can be considered equivalent to its paper-and-pencil counterpart without loss of psychometric property. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Background: Construct validity refers to the degree to which tests that claim to measure a “construct” (i.e., an inferred concept that is intangible regarding an individual’s health or internal state such as a disease, or postulated attribute) are truly reflective of that specific construct. It is suggested that construct validity is an important concept in preclinical research, as it may help reduce misinterpretations of study results allowing for better ability to predict the success of clinical translation of preclinical studies. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to confirm its impact on preclinical research efficacy. Objectives: (I) Conduct a scoping review of the construct validity literature as it relates to the design of in vivo animal studies. (II) Conduct an overview of systematics reviews evaluating the application and reporting of construct validity within systematic reviews of in vivo animal studies. Methods: For the scoping review, we searched Embase, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. Eligibility criteria was intentionally broad as we included any article that mentioned construct validity in preclinical in vivo research. Further review of citations was performed on eligible studies that provided substantial discussion on construct validity. For the overview, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, and TOXLINE for systematic reviews of preclinical in vivo interventions. The outcomes of interest were the prevalence of systematic reviews that mentioned construct validity and the prevalence of reviews that assessed construct validity. Results: The literature searches for the scoping and overview yielded 3657 and 2356 articles, respectively. After screening 372 and 444 met inclusion criteria for the scoping and overview. Six codes were generated (theory; mechanism; matches the human condition; measures what it reports to; experimental conditions; and outcomes) from the content analysis for the definition of construct validity. Of the 444 systematic reviews, seven mentioned construct validity, but only three used the term construct validity directly. None of the systematic reviews assessed construct validity. Discussion/Conclusion: Construct validity was not defined uniformly among studies suggesting it is not clearly understood. There was limited reporting on construct validity in systematic reviews and entirely no assessment of it; this may reflect a lack of awareness of this concept. Future research should aim to find a consensus on the definition of construct validity in order to develop tools and frameworks to help researchers assess construct validity.

The shortage of scientists in South Africa today can be attributed to poor teacher development especially in Natural Sciences. Educator interpretation and integration of assessment standards when conducting scientific investigations in Natural Sciences in the Intermediate Phase, is what this study sought to explore. The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) policy outlines the seven roles to be fulfilled by educators in the Norms and Standards for educators. However, this investigation focused mainly on the two roles for educators: · Interpreters and designers of learning programmes and materials (LO 1: Scientific Investigations) · Scholars, researchers and lifelong learners (DoE, 2002:3) The five schools sampled are from Mankweng area, situated in the Capricorn district in Limpopo province of South Africa. The data was qualitatively collected using the interviews, observations and document analysis as strategies. Before the investigation starts, all participants were told that the investigation was on how they (educators) design (plan), present and assess learners when conducting Learning Outcome 1: Scientific Investigations and how they integrate the assessment standards. The observation and interview schedules were clarified during the meeting. The study revealed that most educators do not know different types of scientific investigations, their lessons designed showed little understanding of LO 1: Scientific Investigations and the integration of assessment standards which are: 1. Planning investigation 2. Conducting scientific investigation and collecting data. 3. Evaluating data and communicate findings. Data analysed revealed that most educators have little understanding and follow a direct teaching style, and thus Construct Scientific Knowledge (LO 2). Only one educator of the 13 observed and interviewed was able to integrate assessment standards 1 and 2. There is a relationship between the level of qualification and better understanding of NCS implementation because the educator above is a scholar, researcher and lifelong learner. I recommend that educators teaching Natural Sciences be work shopped by knowledgeable curriculum advisors (teacher development) on how to teach Scientific Investigations LO 1. And in addition, support should be given to educators on implementing new curricula such as NCS and CAPS ensuring that teacher development is priority. Finally, to ensure that LO 1 can be effectively taught in schools, science kits should be made available to all schools whereas the importance of laboratories cannot be overemphasised. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lk2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / unrestricted

Instalation which explore possibilities of visual language and poetry.

This study demonstrates the direct delivery of plasmid gene constructs into spinal motor neurons utilizing retrograde axoplasmic transport. The plasmid vectors contained the Lac Z gene under the control of both the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) and Simian virus (SV)40 promoters. β-Galactosidase expression was observed in α and γ motor neurons by histochemical staining following direct injection into the sciatic nerve or gastrocnemius muscle. The presence of LacZ gene constructs was confirmed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The ability to introduce gene constructs into motor neurons allows for the study of gene regulation and permits the development of gene therapy strategies for motor neuron diseases including the spinal muscular atrophies (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

This study investigated the validity of the Reading Level Achievement Test of the English Language Center (ELC) of Brigham Young University. Test validation is a complicated process that involves evaluation of various types of validity. It was beyond the scope of this study to investigate different types of validity of the Reading LAT. The present study was only focused on the exam's construct validity. In an effort to validate the LAT, various models of reading comprehension were examined with the purpose of defining the construct of academic reading comprehension. The TOEFL academic reading framework was chosen to be the construct of academic reading comprehension for the present study. The ELC's reading objectives and the Reading LAT items were compared to the construct of academic reading comprehension as defined in the TOEFL framework. The results of this comparison suggest that neither the current ELC reading objectives, nor the current ELC Reading LAT adequately measures students' academic reading comprehension as defined in the construct.

Although George Kelly's psychology of personal constructs was not originally designed to address and account for experiences of self-betrayal, as described by Warner (1986, 2001), Olson (2004, 2007), Olson and Israelson (2007), Williams (2005), and others (Arbinger, 2000), his theory (with minor modifications) may help illuminate the psychology behind the sudden gestaltic shifts and moral transformations experienced by individuals in Warner's (1986, 2001) stories, without undoing any of Warner's existing analysis of self betrayal.The end vision of the thesis is a structured theory of personality, so to speak, that borrows Kelly's insights and extends them to the phenomenon of self-betrayal. This approach allows us to (1) help others make their self-betraying constructs explicit, (2) measure and document them when we do, (3) communicate those constructs to others, (4) and do all of these things while conceptualizing human beings as moral agents responding to their moral sense, in addition to scientists seeking to predict and control their environment.