Medical guidelines on the same medical condition differ between England and the Netherlands. These guidelines are referred to as evidence-based because they are supposedly based on a systematic searching for and appraisal of medical studies to drive recommendations for appropriate care for specific clinical circumstances. This comparative study interrogates what causes these differences and similarities between guidelines and tries to uncover the mechanisms behind the development of medical practice guidelines. Four case studies, on lower back pain and on type 2 diabetes in both countries, are used to provide a detailed empirical account of the development of medical guidelines. Interviews with guideline developers are combined with a detailed analysis of available guideline documents. The overarching finding of this thesis is that medical evidence plays a more limited and nuanced role in guideline construction than might be expected and that guidelines are manifestations of professional (self-) regulation. Importantly, the research also finds that institutions shape guidelines in a multitude of ways. This study has endeavoured to add to a more nuanced understanding of evidence within the literature: conceptualising evidence as part of a process of a social and institutional construction. This construction is used within a collaborative and communicative process aimed at creating 'objective facts'. Contrary to existing scholarship, this thesis argues that evidence merely informs the understanding of members of guideline groups while a range of economic, cultural, institutional, and political factors, that together form cognitive frames, provide the driving force behind the development of guidelines. Institutional factors have shown to be essential elements in guideline development, influencing all aspects of development through institutional cultures of practice. This study concludes that calling guidelines evidence-based is an important rhetorical instrument, which helps to conceal and legitimize some of the normative choices that are inherent in guideline making.

The problems of judicial expertise in criminal proceedings Abstract Contemporary criminal proceedings are highly dependable on judicial expertise and in number of cases we encounter a situation where the determination of the facts is based on the expert evidence. However, judicial expertise is linked to a number of issues which damage the reputation of the field which is then considered to be untrustworthy by the general public. This paper is divided into 5 separate chapters dissecting the most commonly criticised practices by the general public. At first the issue of relegating responsibilities from the judge to the judicial experts is analysed. The author believes that there are two root causes to the problem, one being the factual accuracy of the provided expert evidence and the other being the unnecessary utilization of judicial experts. The aforementioned relegation of responsibilities places power in the hands of the experts whose work seldom meet the appropriate quality given the increased level of responsibility. Therefore the author further focuses on the problems with the quality of the expert evidence as well as examining the warranties provided by the current legislation and the shortcomings of this legislation along with the changes of it that are coming into effect as of 1 January 2021. The...

This study addresses the question of whether or not pre-service teachers are ready and prepared to use and teach the highly-specialized language of each discipline. The disciplinary languages present teaching and learning challenges due to their lack of parallels in the daily language (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Additionally, the languages of the disciplines are rarely taught and are commonly acquired through an isolated representation of words without a situated meaning within the theory (Gee, 2002). The knowledge of the particular ways of reading, writing, listening to, and talking in the content areas provides opportunities for students’ apprenticeship within the disciplines required for success in higher education contexts (Dobbs, Ippolito, and Charner, 2017). Moreover, this study addresses the question of how future teachers develop disciplinary knowledge and skills. The purpose of this case study was to investigate how mathematical literacy is shaped and defined by the experiences, language, and disciplinary practices of pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics. This overall aim was unfolded by three guiding research questions: 1) What do the Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers and Experts in Mathematics Reveal about their Understanding of Mathematical Literacy? 2) RQ 2. How do pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics use language when solving mathematical problems? and 3) What literacy practices do pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics utilize when presented with modules that require mathematics problem-solving? To structure the elements of analysis for the participants’ responses, I adopted the theoretical support from the emerging disciplinary literacy framework, the novice-expert paradigm, and the tenets of M. K. Halliday’s functional linguistic theory (i.e., Systemic Functional Linguistics; [SFL]). Four faculty in the Department of Mathematics and four pre-service teachers in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at a large Midwest university agreed to participate in this case study. For the data collection, I asked the participants to participate in two sessions. In the first sessions, the participants responded to a semi-structured interview. Afterward, in a second session, the participants solved modules of mathematical problems following three protocols: a think-aloud, a silent-solving, and an oral-explanatory. The results of the participants’ responses to the semi-structured interview and the three protocols indicated that their experiences as learners and teachers of mathematics are tied to their definitions of literacy and disciplinary literacy. The SFL analysis showed that for the experts of mathematics, mathematical problem-solving is a more abstract and cognitive practice. The pre-service teachers’ registers indicated that mathematical problem-solving is experienced as more concrete and real practice. The unique literacy practices that these participants displayed showed the strong connection between language, literacy, and mathematical thought.The implications of this study are discussed in terms of the importance of language and disciplinary literacy in preparation for future teachers as they progress in their course of study within their teaching education programs.

This study examines the association between the extent of legal intensity in firms’ financial reports and their financial reporting quality. Firms’ financial reports contain embedded legal content arising from contracts and agreements underlying their operations. Accountants interpret the contract provisions and conditions to determine the timing and amounts recognized in financial reports. Legal content is technical and complex, creating a potential for misinterpretation and errors in accounting for transactions, thus adversely affecting financial reporting quality. Using legal tags in companies’ 10-K XBRL filings, I construct a measure of the legal intensity of financial reports. I document an inverse association between legal intensity of financial reports and financial reporting quality, proxied by accruals quality, analyst earnings forecast errors and dispersion, earnings informativeness, and accruals informativeness. The inverse association is driven by firm-specific legal content rather than common legal content. There is also some evidence that the inverse association is strengthened by high operational uncertainty and attenuated by accounting experts on the audit committee. Collectively, this study increases our understanding of challenges in translating legal content into financial reports and the benefit of audit committee accounting experts in this setting. / Business Administration/Accounting

There is growing interest in alignment between state's standards and test content partly due to accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Among other problems, current alignment methods almost entirely rely on subjective judgment to assess curriculum-assessment alignment. In addition none of the current alignment models accounts for student actual performance on the assessment and there are no consistent criteria for assessing alignment across the various models. Due to these problems, alignment results employing different models cannot be compared. This study applied item mapping to student response data for the Massachusetts Adult Proficiency Test (MAPT) for Math and Reading to assess alignment. Item response theory (IRT) was used to locate items on a proficiency scale and then two criterion response probability (RP) values were applied to the items to map each item to a proficiency category. Item mapping results were compared to item writers' classification of the items. Chi-square tests, correlations, and logistic regression were used to assess the degree of agreement between the two sets of data. Seven teachers were convened for a one day meeting to review items that do not map to intended grade level to explain the misalignment. Results show that in general, there was higher agreement between SMEs classification and item mapping results at RP50 than RP67. Higher agreement was also observed for items assessing lower level cognitive abilities. Item difficulty, cognitive demand, clarity of the item, level of vocabulary of item compared to reading level of examinees and mathematical concept being assessed were some of the suggested reasons for misalignment.

Au fil des générations, l'évaluation de programme a traversé de nombreux changements (nécessaires), qui l'ont conduite à devenir une activité à la fois technique et sociopolitique. Aujourd'hui, elle est d'une indéniable complexité du fait notamment de la nature des situations évaluatives rencontrées, dont les caractéristiques influencent la faisabilité, la fiabilité et l'utilité de l'évaluation. Des situations animées de contraintes sociopolitiques et organisationnelles importantes, de problèmes sur le plan des intrants disponibles, de l'accessibilité des données, etc. En outre, la qualité de l'évaluation est tributaire de la capacité de l'évaluateur à mobiliser des savoirs pratiques en situation, son expertise, et son jugement afin d'entreprendre les choix méthodologiques les plus appropriés. Inscrite dans une perspective interprétative, cette étude explore et tente de comparer les choix méthodologiques opérés par des évaluateurs novices et experts œuvrant dans des cabinets de conseil (n=8) lors de la réalisation de leurs évaluations de programme ; et la façon dont ils appréhendent et gèrent les contraintes situationnelles. Elle mobilise deux types d'activités reconnues pour l'analyse des pratiques professionnelles des évaluateurs de programmes : 1. la métaévaluation d'un projet tierce rapportée durant un entretien non dirigé ; et 2. l'entretien d'explicitation centré sur un projet d'évaluation passé avec, en amont, l'analyse des devis évaluatifs faisant l'objet de l'exercice d'explicitation. À partir de ces deux types d'activités, il devient possible d'examiner et croiser les bonnes pratiques et les pratiques réelles des participants. Les résultats s'inscrivent dans le contexte de l'évaluation externe de programmes publics fédéraux sous la direction d'un chef d'évaluation interne responsable de la planification initiale et la suppression de l'évaluation, et la consultation d'un comité interne composé d'utilisateurs ciblés. Au sein des équipes évaluatives externes, on observe une certaine hiérarchie dans l'organisation du travail. L'évaluateur expert est le gestionnaire de l'évaluation et il est chargé d'activités cruciales comme la conception et la communication de l'évaluation. L'évaluateur novice peut exercer dans une capacité d'exécutant/exécutant avancé de tâches de collecte et d'analyse de données (travail en silo), ou de collaborateur et participer à l'évaluation dès sa conception. Ultimement, les choix méthodologiques sont du ressort de l'évaluateur expert. Les pratiques réelles des évaluateurs novices sont ancrées dans le développement de leurs compétences méthodologiques et de leurs capacités analytiques, ce qui transparaît sur le plan de leurs bonnes pratiques. L'articulation de leurs pratiques se centre sur une logique technique/méthodologique de production de connaissances quant aux objets évalués. Pour eux, il est essentiel de démontrer le caractère approprié de la démarche d'évaluation, l'effort de rigueur, la fiabilité et la représentativité de la méthodologie évaluative (c.-à-d. l'alignement du contenu du cadre d'évaluation, le caractère systématique des procédures, la représentativité des sources d'information, la transparence du raisonnement évaluatif, etc.). Si dans le cadre de l'analyse critique d'un devis tierce, les évaluateurs novices reconnaissent l'influence de différents facteurs contextuels sur l'évaluation, leur analyse demeure superficielle et décontextualisée comparativement aux évaluateurs experts. En effet, les pratiques réelles tout comme les pratiques recommandées des évaluateurs experts sont influencées par la situation évaluative réelle et centrée sur les résultats. La priorité, pour eux, est de veiller au caractère approprié et faisable du devis d'évaluation à la lumière des caractéristiques de l'objet évalué ou evaluand (complexité de la théorie de programme, envergure des objectifs, caractère facilement observable de ses résultats ou non, etc.), des exigences politico-organisationnelles (la Politique évaluative fédérale, ses directives méthodologiques et ses normes, la collaboration avec le chef de l'évaluation interne, etc.), et des ressources disponibles (temps, argent, données probantes existantes et accessibles, etc.). Et ce, tout en assurant la fiabilité, la représentativité et l'utilité de l'évaluation. Il s'agit d'un raisonnement que les évaluateurs novices semblent commencer à s'approprier dès lors qu'ils ont l'occasion de participer à l'évaluation dès la phase de conception. Les résultats montrent que la pertinence du devis d'évaluation repose sur la capacité des évaluateurs à réaliser un diagnostic efficace de la situation évaluative rencontrée afin de revoir et opérationnaliser les paramètres de l'évaluation initialement prescrits par les clients, et de s'assurer de la faisabilité et de la légitimité de l'évaluation. Cette entreprise nécessite la mobilisation de savoirs méthodologiques procéduraux et expérientiels, de connaissances spécifiques à l'environnement professionnel (programmes publics, système politico-organisationnel du gouvernement fédéral, politique évaluative, gouvernance de l'évaluation externe de programmes publics, etc.), de savoir-faire relationnels, et de savoir-faire cognitifs acquis dans et par l'expérience (indispensables à l'analyse de la situation et à la résolution de problèmes, à la conception et à la réalisation de l'évaluation). Les résultats soulignent ici l'incidence du niveau d'expertise de l'évaluateur de programme externe sur sa capacité à anticiper, identifier, comprendre et gérer efficacement les contraintes situationnelles afin de concevoir une évaluation fiable et utile. Ils montrent l'importance d'offrir le plus tôt possible aux évaluateurs novices l'occasion de participer à des projets d'évaluation du début à la fin, d'accroître les occasions d'observation et de contribution sur le plan de la conception et de la gestion de l'évaluation dans le cadre de petits projets où le devis est plutôt simple. Des tâches cruciales qui, dans le présent contexte de pratique, sont réalisées par les évaluateurs experts.

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During an audit, if an audit team does not have sufficient knowledge when auditing a complex issue they often call upon subject matter experts to provide advice. While these experts are the knowledge experts in their area, the quality of the advice depends upon their ability to fully understand and incorporate client specific facts. PCAOB inspection reports suggest that audit teams are neglecting to perform the required work to assess the quality of experts' recommendations. Additionally, the decision to use subject matter experts can be made during planning or when a complex issue surfaces during the audit. As such, auditors may or may not be a priori aware that an expert's use is planned before auditing a complex issue. In this dissertation, I examine how receiving advice of different levels of quality in terms of whether it incorporated all relevant client facts (lower or higher), and a priori awareness of the use of a subject matter expert (aware or unaware), can impact auditors' use of the advice and the resulting effort and judgment accuracy. I conducted a computerized experiment where professional auditors read a case study and made an initial judgment around a complex issue, received advice, and then made a final judgment. Based on advice-taking literature, I predict and find support that auditors who are a priori unaware of the use of a subject matter expert will employ lower effort in understanding the client facts and thus be less discerning and more accepting of the advice received. Being a priori unaware and receiving low quality advice can lead to lower judgment accuracy than receiving high quality advice with a priori unawareness. Auditors who are a priori aware are expected to, and found to employ greater effort, thus reducing the accuracy differences between receiving high and low quality advice. These findings can help improve the professions' understanding of auditors' advice taking behavior and the conditions under which expert advice is accepted without performing the required quality assessment. / Ph. D.

Le présent mémoire a pour but de présenter deux techniques permettant l'obtention d'une estimation de la distribution d'une variable aléatoire lorsque les données historiques sont inexistantes ou confidentielles. Les modèles proposés se basent sur la consultation de plusieurs spécialistes du domaine dont les avis sont combinés afin d'obtenir une estimation de la distribution inconnue. Dans les deux cas, la distribution finale est le résultat d'un processus mathématique d'évaluation des experts réalisé à l'aide de variables de calibration. Le premier modèle utilise des techniques statistiques classiques alors que le second fait appel à la règle de Bayes. Le mémoire propose également une mise en oeuvre informatique des modèles ainsi que des exemples commentés.