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No description available.

The use of personality tests throughout Canadian society is based on the assumption that their results are valid. However, research has shown that individuals can, and do, fake their responses on personality inventories. Individuals may fake good, emphasizing their positive characteristics, or fake bad, emphasizing negative characteristics, in order to obtain a desired outcome. Recent research has provided support for a congruence model of faking, which states that schema-consistent responses are provided more quickly than schema-inconsistent responses. Faking successfully, without being detected by validity indices, requires balancing favourable and unfavourable responses, regardless of the faking schema a participant adopts. This demand results in cognitive fatigue over time, producing increasingly unbalanced response patterns. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the congruence and cognitive overload models of faking in detecting instructed faking, and to examine whether these models or the newly developed Faking Response Strategy Scales provide added value in detecting faking relative to currently established gold-standard measures. Results showed that all of the self-report scales examined—whether traditional or new—were valid detectors of faking, which supports their ongoing use. However, results highlighted the weakness of the Impression Management subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, the current gold-standard in the field, in providing added value relative to other scales. Response latency data supported the congruence model of faking, but results for the cognitive overload model were mixed: Study 1 data supported the cognitive overload model, but time constraints introduced in Study 2 seem to have caused random responding, rather than increasing cognitive overload as was intended. Results supported a multidimensional model of faking, and show that adding measures of response latency and response pattern can enhance the ability of traditional measures to detect faking. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for methods of detecting faking and for the understanding of cognitive processes underlying faking. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-28 11:00:11.347

Learning and assessment are inextricably intertwined, since assessment not only measures learning, but future learning is also dependent on assessment. The purpose of this two phase sequential mixed-methods study was to examine the interplay between informal and formal assessment in Grade 9 EFAL classrooms in order to gain a better understanding of teachers’ assessment practises. Argued from a constructivist point of view, the study endorses continuous assessment (CASS), which balances informal and formal assessment. In order to direct the study towards the stated purpose, the researcher embarked on a literature study to contextualise English as First Additional Language against the background of educational developments in South Africa since 1994 and to examine assessment of English First Additional Language in an OBE framework. The literature study was followed by an empirical study. By applying a sequential mixed-methods research design, 66 conveniently sampled EFAL teachers in the Johannesburg-North District of the Gauteng Department of Education participated in the quantitative phase of the empirical study. By means of a survey as strategy of inquiry, these teachers completed a questionnaire. Six randomly selected teachers from the initial sample participated in the qualitative phase of the empirical study which followed a case study strategy of inquiry and consisted of individual interviews and observations. The empirical research findings revealed that the sampled teachers experienced the official Departmental documents as regulatory, overwhelming and ambiguous and that they gave more attention to formal assessment than informal assessment. Due to this emphasis on formal assessment, the teachers felt uncertain about the purposes of informal assessment which, as a consequence, was considered as less important than formal assessment. A preference of conventional assessment methods was also disclosed which implied that the sampled teachers were not willing to experiment with alternative assessment methods. In conclusion, the researcher discovered that although CASS was implemented in the sampled teachers’ classrooms, learner-centred teaching founded on constructivism with the aim of encouraging scaffolding, was not high on the teachers’ teaching agendas. / MEd (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Researchers' attempts to provide an objective, analytical basis for understanding observers perceptual preferences for landscapes is the basis of the field of landscape perception research. Within this field a series of paradigms have evolved around which the majority of research has been centered. One of these, the experiential paradigm focuses on the multi-sensory nature of mars relationship with the landscape. This study seeks to define a scope of dynamic variables effecting landscape perception and their impact on landscape preference.A study site in rural Indiana was selected and a loop trail was laid out to provide access to the site. Sixteen sites along the trail were defined as experiential test sites and were field marked and photographed. A test group was guided through the study area and was asked to give a preference rating for each site on a five point scale as well as in an open ended verbal response. Two weeks following the on site testing the same group was asked to provide preference ratings in the laboratory for slides of the same 16 sites experienced in the field.The resulting data was analyzed to determine to what extent dynamic variables were impacting preference for landscape experiences. Multisensory elements of the environment were found to have a direct impact on preference. This was reflected in both verbal and scaled preference data. In addition to this, experiential preference wwas also determined to be associated with the sequence in which experiences occurred. The linkage provided by transitional landscapes encountered as respondents progressed between test sites proved to be an important element of experiential preference. This 'clustering' effect was evident in the laboratory as well as in the field.T he results of this, research illustrate the importance of dynamic variables as essential components of landscape preference. This study further supports the use of verbal response formats as a method for determining the true scope of perceptual variables attributing to preference. In conjunction with this, the importance of transition landscapes and experiential sequencing identified in this research merits additional study in order to more precisely define the structure of the human / landscape interaction. / Department of Landscape Architecture

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In academic and real life, issues of water have been predominantly ruled by a single approach. Such an approach, I argue, is the enemy metaphorical vision and I contend that this metaphorical vision comes particularly from the Dutch culture. It is further argued that the Dutch enemy vision, while not only problematic and giving rise to questions, is also nearly global in extent now. Running alongside the Dutch dominated Western metaphor I argue for the existence of another approach to water and floods. This is the Lozi flood approach in Western Zambia. The Lozi metaphorically view floodwaters as a patelo (ie. an open space in the centre of a village, public place). In effect, we have two contrasting views, namely, the 'enemy' and 'patelo' flood metaphors belonging to the Dutch and Lozi cultures respectively. Indeed, in the course of writing and researching this thesis I came to realise that the Dutch vision of water as enemy may be seen as metaphorical in itself for Western attitudes and policies towards water and floods. Throughout the thesis the Dutch enemy vision stands in as metaphor. This needs to be understood. Particular contexts are reviewed in order to understand the enemy/patelo issue and include (a) the Western flood-hazard school of thought (b) the Western Zambian experiences (c) environmentalism and (d) the 'serviceknowledge' concept for the role of universities in the dissemination of knowledge and understanding. Since the view of floods originating with the Dutch is, arguablyl considered to be a problem and now global in extent, the idea in this inquiry is to propose as a partial solution materials which would be seen, debated and assessed internationally. Theoretically, the proposed solution consists of an exercise in environmental education and a 'serviceknowledge' concept of education as defined in the text. In practice, the theoretical and abstract concept of serviceknowledge takes the tangible form of a pamphlet (for the local Zambian public) and the 'video script in embryo' (for the international public outside Zambia). Moreover, in practically carrying out the study, I adopt a mixture of three research paradigms, namely, the positivist, interpretive and action research paradigms. The pamphlet and video script are, in effect, both research instruments and dissemination techniques. The results of the inquiry are reported in discussion. My position moves from two contrasting ideas of natural floods to three different and contextually based interpretations of the biblical flood story. The study concludes with a hope that our knowledge of and attitudes towards floods and flooding, as well as modes of university public service in education, will have increased slightly in the course and aftermath of this inquiry.

Numerous assessment modes have evolved throughout the years, but only a few of them have been extensively studied in nursing education, particularly in Greece. The aim of this study is to review educators’ and students’ beliefs regarding assessment in the Greek nursing education system. Special attention shall be devoted to the faculty curriculum and the learning and teaching procedures. For this purpose, a descriptive retrospective cohort study was carried out in the nursing faculties of two of the eight Greek universities that teach nursing, with one cohort being that of the students and the second that of the educators. A questionnaire survey in combination with qualitative interviews were used to investigate the views of students and educators about the assessment of learning, and factors that may influence those views. The results indicated that both educators and students were familiar with more traditional teaching and assessment procedures. Both students and educators believe that there are serious problems in the organisation of the curriculum and these may cause difficulty in the development of alternative models of teaching and assessment. The feelings about the educational environment and the relationships between students and educators were mixed. Finally, positive relationships seem to play a very important role in students’ learning and their satisfaction with assessment procedures and the educational environment, and it is suggested that these could be partially managed by mandatory attendance at theory courses, for both educators and students. Based on the overall findings of the study, a model of the context of effective assessment in Greek nursing education was proposed. To conclude, it is suggested that nursing education in Greece should seek to adopt more alternative modes of assessment to promote self-directed learning, and that audit is needed of teaching and assessment procedures for a more effective curriculum in future.