This thesis investigates the social and psychological factors that might affect Omani higher education students if computerised assessment was to be implemented. A review of the literature and the historical and cultural development in Oman suggested that a number of different variables might affect students‘ performance when taking computerised assessment. These factors which include gender, college of study and geographical region of residence may cause unwanted and selective differences in student performance which are not related to the content of the assessment. In addition, the potential effects of such variables as computer experience and computer self-efficacy on student performance were investigated. The study also explored student and academic staff attitudes towards computerised assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this study through a selection of instruments such as a test that was delivered in different modes, questionnaires, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative approaches are used to provide answers to the main study questions about student performance, and qualitative approaches are used to get deeper insights into the students‘ and staff members‘ perceptions, attitudes and values in relation to the research subject of the study. All these instruments were developed based upon the literature and also validated through a separate initial study. The main study took place after the instruments had been validated and involved over 400 students and 100 staff at three Omani Applied Sciences Colleges. Statistical analysis showed a small but significant difference between the two assessment modes in favour of the paper-and-pencil test. There was a significant difference in performance between both genders, with females out-performing males. However, the most striking finding was a differential effect of assessment mode between males and females. Males performed better in the computerized test than in the paper-based one, in contrast to females whose performance in the paper test was better. This suggests that the introduction of computerised testing may affect males and females in different ways. One 4 possible explanation for this is that Omani males have more opportunities to use computers inside and outside homes. The questionnaire results and the qualitative information from focus groups both showed that females were more nervous and found it more difficult to read from the computer screen than males did. Also, it was obvious in the focus group discussions that females had more negative feelings towards computerised testing compared to males, both before and after experiencing computerised assessment. The study found that students‘ performance in the English language test had showed significant variation across colleges, and among students from different regions. This variation seemed to be associated with variation in computer experience among students at the different colleges and from different regions. This may be due to regional differences or specificities, especially in terms of computer use, among the nine administrative regions in Oman. Staff attitudes and perceptions towards CAA, in general, were positive and not affected by either the gender or nationality/language factor. Most of the academic staff members revealed their willingness to implement CAA but also stressed that CAA should be gradually implemented. Both students and staff members identified a number of important points such as the need for a reliable system, qualified technicians and sufficient computers if Computer Assisted Assessment was to achieve wide acceptability.

We analyze the effect of the coach's gender on risk-taking in women sports teams using data taken from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball games. We find that the coach's gender has a sizable and significant effect on risk-taking, a finding that is robust to several empirical strategies, including an instrumental variable approach. In particular, we find that risk-taking among teams with a male head coach is 5 percentage points greater than that in teams with a female head coach. This gap is persistent over time and across intermediate game standings. The fact that risk-taking has a significantly positive effect on game success suggests that female coaches should be more risk-taking. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Mathematics has been seen to act as a ‘critical filter’ in the social, economic and professional development of individuals. The Island of Mauritius relies to a great extent on its human resource power to meet the challenges of recent technological developments, and a substantial core of mathematics is needed to prepare students for their involvements in these challenges. After an analysis of the School Certificate examination results for the past ten years in Mauritius, it was found that boys were out-performing girls in mathematics at that level. This study aimed to examine this gender difference in mathematics performance at the secondary level by exploring factors affecting mathematics teaching and learning, and by identifying and implementing strategies to enhance positive factors. The study was conducted using a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology in three phases. A survey approach was used in the Phase One of the study to analyse the performance of selected students from seventeen schools across Mauritius in a specially designed mathematics test. The attitudes of these students were also analysed through administration of the Modified Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale questionnaire. In Phase Two a case study method was employed, involving selected students from four Mauritian secondary schools. After the administration of the two instruments used in Phase One to these selected students, qualitative techniques were introduced. These included classroom observations and interviews of students, teachers, parents and key informants. Data from these interviews assisted in analysing and interpreting the influence of these individuals on students, and the influence of the students’ own attitudes towards mathematics on their learning of mathematics. / The results of Phases One and Two provided further evidence that boys were outperforming girls in mathematics at the secondary level in Mauritius. It was noted that students rated teachers highly in influencing their learning of mathematics. However, the teaching methods usually employed in the mathematics classrooms were found to be teacher-centered, and it was apparent that there existed a lack of opportunity for students to be involved in their own learning. It was also determined that parents and peers played a significant role in students’ learning of mathematics. After having analysed the difficulties students encountered in their mathematical studies, a package was designed with a view to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject at the secondary level. The package was designed to promote student-centred practices, where students would be actively involved in their own learning, and to foster appropriate use of collaborative learning. It was anticipated that the package would motivate students towards learning mathematics and would enhance their conceptual understanding of the subject. The efficacy of the package was examined in Phase Three of the study when students from a number of Mauritian secondary schools engaged with the package over a period of three months. Pre- and post-tests were used to measure students’ achievement gains. The What Is Happening in This Class (WIHIC) questionnaire also was used to analyse issues related to the affective domains of the students. An overall appreciation of the approaches used in the teaching and learning package was provided by students in the form of self-reports. / The outcomes of the Third Phase demonstrated an improvement in the achievement of students in the areas of mathematics which were tested. The students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment were also found to be positive. Through their self-reports, students demonstrated an appreciation for the package’s strategies used in motivating them to learn mathematics and in helping them gain a better understanding of the mathematical concepts introduced.

Upplevd likhet med målpersonen har ansetts vara viktig för empati och viss forskning har visat att empatin ökar med upplevd etnisk sam-hörighet. Denna studies primära syfte var att experimentellt undersöka om svenska och icke-svenska deltagare kände olika mycket empati beroende på målpersonens etnicitet samt upplevd likhet med mål-personen. Majoriteten av de 160 deltagarna rekryterades från Mälar-dalens högskola, varav 102 var svenska och 84 var kvinnliga. Resultatet visade två signifikanta disordinala interaktioner där svenska deltagare kände signifikant mer empati och upplevd likhet med en svensk än icke-svensk målperson, medan icke-svenska inte visade signifikant mer empati eller upplevd likhet med en icke-svensk än svensk målperson. Ingen signifikant skillnad i empati fanns mellan äldre och yngre deltagare. Män uppvisade signifikant lägre empati än kvinnor och inget av könen väckte mer empati. Orsaken till de disordinala interaktionerna diskuterades i termer av social kategorisering. Vidare forskning med en annan definition av begreppet etnicitet föreslogs.

Primates have traditionally been considered having a poor sense of smell compared to other orders of mammals, like carnivores, due to reduced olfactory structures of the primate brain. This thought, however, is slowly changing. There are now a range of studies showing that primates do use their sense of smell, for example in chemical communication. However, few studies have been carried out on olfactory-related behaviors in Great Apes. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of olfactory-related behaviors in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The results do not only show that chimpanzees use their sense of smell, but also a behavioral difference between male and female chimpanzees. There was a significant difference between male to female smelling of the anogenitals and male to male smelling of the anogenitals (p = 0.0001) and also a difference between the occurrences of males and females touching an object with the hand and then smelling at the hand (p = 0. 0007). There was a significant difference between male and female frequency of smelling at an object (p = 0.001) and a significant difference between the occurrences of male and female smelling at foods and liquids (p = 0.003). There were no observations of chimpanzees performing a scent-marking behavior. These results suggest that chimpanzees use their sense of smell, from investigating new objects to the inspection of food and other chimpanzees. It would be interesting in future studies to study the difference between male and female frequency of olfactory-related behaviors.

With the rapid development of global e-business and the popularity of Web technologies, e-negotiation has become an integral part of daily life for many managers in business. Moreover, female job achievements rose abruptly during these years. As greater numbers of females achieve upper level positions in business, the need to have an understanding of how gender affects negotiation behaviors becomes even more important. An awareness of the clear gender differences can help in managing conflicts in e-negotiations. This study aims to discover some interesting findings about the interdependence of gender and negotiation behaviors by using the research methodologies of explorative research and content analysis. We expect to infer propositions which will be verified in future research and have some contributions. This study also tries to understand if gender has influence on negotiators¡¦ behaviors and to determine whether negotiators¡¦ behaviors have departures in different dyadic composition of gender. This study reveals that females and males have different negotiation behaviors in e-negotiations, and negotiation behaviors are influenced by gender composition. Moreover, there are some differences in detailed negotiation behaviors between females and males in e-negotiations. Negotiators who meet the same gender counterparts have more ¡§reference to relationship¡¨ behavior. When males negotiate with females, they have more ¡§suggest package trade-off¡¨ behaviors. Females have more ¡§show negative emotions¡¨ behaviors in negotiating with males.

This study aimed to investigate the differences of different teacher-student matches in science gender stereotype threat and classroom observations on teacher-student interactions of different gender match and interviews on science teachers. The study developed two standardized scales for junior high school students, Science Gender Stereotype Scale and Science Identification Scale. A total of 1,224 students from 44 classes out of 11 junior high schools in Kaohsiung City were selected through judgmental sampling to complete questionnaires in the study. The results indicated: (1) students of female-male group (female teacher and male student) had stronger science identification than students of female-female group (female teacher and female student); students of male-male group (male teacher and male student) had stronger science identification than students of male-female group (male teacher and female student); and female students taught by male teacher had the lowest science identification (2) there was no significant difference of students¡¦ gender stereotype belief in sciences in different teacher-student matches (3) students of female-male group (female teacher and male student) had stronger perception of gender stereotype than students of female-female group (female teacher and female student); students of male-male group (male teacher and male student) had stronger perception of gender stereotype than students of male-female group (male teacher and female student). The results of observations and interviews indicated: (1) male students were more initiative and therefore had more opportunities to interact with teachers (2) female students of upper-intermediate level were more susceptible to perceive gender stereotype threat in science learning (3) the difference in male and female teachers may be attributed to the influence of female role model (4) degree of difficulty was a crucial component stimulating students¡¦ gender stereotype threat.

Today people already accustom to do businesses on the Internet. The electronic negotiation also becomes popular because of its advantages. Furthermore more and more females get high positions in their company and often engage important activities such as electronic negotiation for their company. If negotiators could understand the differences of males and females on their behavioral sequence and response strategy, they could have a better interaction during negotiation no matter what their counterpart s gender is. This study explores the relation of different gender compositions and response strategy in E-Negotiation. We design an algorithm to find significant sequential patterns and then group them into three kinds of response strategies. Lastly we use Chi-Square Independence Test to see the correlation and Column Comparison to see which gender composition has significant higher proportion on three types of response strategies. The result suggests gender compositions and response strategies are interrelated. Negotiators in inter-gender dyad are more likely to response with reciprocal strategy and negotiators in intra-gender dyad are more likely to response with structural strategy. Moreover female-only dyad is more likely to response with all kinds of strategies compared to male-only dyad. Finally female would response to male with more reciprocal strategies and to female with more complementary and structural strategies. On the other hand, male would response to female counterpart with more reciprocal strategies and to male counterpart with more structural strategies.

abstract: Spirituality has been studied in relation to psychological factors in health for the past decade and has been found to promote positive affect while possibly benefiting health. However, multiple dimensions of spirituality need to be examined systematically before much can be concluded regarding the influence of spirituality on health. One purpose of this study was to test the validity of the four factors of the Psychomatrix Spirituality Inventory (PSI) developed by Wolman using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA): divinity, mindfulness, extrasensory perception, and intellectuality. In addition, the moderation effects of these factors on stress, assessed by cortisol levels, and on perceived cold symptoms induced by a bogus cold viral challenge were investigated among 100 participants as part of a larger study conducted by Nemeroff to identify psychological factors related to perceived cold susceptibility under a bogus viral challenge paradigm. The analysis of CFA among 265 participants indicated that the four-factor Pyscholmatrix Spirituality model did not provide a good fit to the data collected by Nemeroff. The shared variances among factors could be the explanation for failure to confirm these four factors. Women developed more cold symptoms than did men post bogus exposure. Mindfulness and extrasensory perception factors buffered the adverse effects of stress on cold symptoms. A three-way-interaction among gender, stress, and mindfulness indicated that the buffering effects of mindfulness on stress and cold symptoms were stronger for women than for men, and the effects were stronger when the stress levels increased. A three-way-interaction was also found among gender, stress, and extrasensory perception, with the moderation effects of extrasensory perception on stress and cold symptoms stronger for women than for men, and these effects becoming stronger as stress levels elevated. This study is an important step for understanding the relationships among gender, spiritual factors and cortisol levels under laboratory-induced stress. These results have implications for developing preventions or interventions that incorporate mindfulness practices and take extrasensory perception beliefs into consideration for stress reduction and health promotion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Counseling Psychology 2010

Empathy is a multidimensional phenomenon that consists of both emotional and cognitive components. This paper gives an overview of behavioural and neuroscientific sex differences in empathy, as well as potential explanations to those results. Research indicates existence of sex differences in both emotional and cognitive empathy, although inconsistent findings suggest both female superiority as well as male superiority. Gender roles, social desirability, as well deficiencies in measurement and imprecise conceptualizations of empathy is argued as contributors to found sex differences. With a restricted amount of research on sex differences in empathy, inconsistent findings as well as a great proportion of critique towards both the research field of empathy as well as towards focus on sex differences; the authors argue that presented sex differences in empathy must be interpreted with a great caution. Keywords: empathy, sex, gender difference, behaviour, neuroscience