Isn’t the report card just a way to distinguish the “have” schools from the “have not” schools? This is the ninth in a series of frequently asked questions that can be found on the school performance section of the Fraser Institute’s website. Importantly, the report cards in question are both produced and published by the Fraser Institute, an independent public policy research group that ranks Canadian elementary schools on a set of indicators gleaned from the results of provincial standardized testing. While the Fraser Institute answers this question with a simple No, the thesis research presented here uses a mixed methods approach to examine the accuracy of this simplistic answer. Using socioeconomic data and regression analysis, this research endeavors to uncover if standardized test results can indeed stand independently of class and other demographic factors to produce a valid point of school comparison. This research also provides an in depth exploration of the Fraser Institute’s annual elementary school report card from the perspective of current elementary teachers in Ontario. Lastly, this research presents findings regarding the ways that parents of elementary school children use and understand the Fraser Institute’s school ratings.

The thesis studies the factors which underpin the allocation of credit ratings by the two major credit rating agencies (CRAs) namely Moody’s and S&P. CRAs make regular headlines, and their rating’s judgements are closely followed and debated by the financial community. Indeed, criticism of these agencies emerged, both in this community and the popular press, following the 2007-2008 financial crisis. This thesis examines several aspects of the allocation of credit ratings by the major agencies, particularly in relation to (i) their revealed “loss function” preference structure, (ii) the determinants underpinning the allocation of credit ratings and (iii) the reasons determining the circumstances when the two agencies appear to differ in their opinions, and we witness a split credit rating allocation. The first essay empirically estimates the loss function preferences of two agencies by analyzing instances of split credit ratings assigned to corporate issuers. Our dataset utilises a time series of nineteen years (1991-2009) of historical credit ratings data from corporate issuers. The methodology consists of estimating rating judgment differences by deducting the rating implied probability of default from the estimated market implied probability of default. Then, utilising judgment differences, we adapt the GMM estimation following Elliott et al. (2005), to extract the loss function preferences of the two agencies. The estimated preferences show a higher degree of asymmetry in the case of Moody’s, and we find strong evidence of conservatism (relative to the market) in industry sectors other than financials and utilities. S&P exhibits loss function asymmetry in both the utility and financial sectors, whereas in other sectors we find strong evidence of symmetric preferences relative to those of the market. The second essay compares the impact of financial, governance and other variables (in an attempt to capture various subjective elements) in determining issuer credit ratings between the two major CRAs. Utilising a sample of 5192 firm-year observations from S&P400, S&P500 and S&P600 index constituent issuer firms, we employ an ordered probit model on a panel dataset spanning 1995 through 2009. The empirical results suggest that the agencies indeed differ on the level of importance they attach to each variable. We conclude that financial information remains the most significant factor in the attribution of credit ratings for both the agencies. We find no significant improvement in the predictive power of credit rating when we incorporate governance related variables. Our other factors show strong evidence of continuing stringent standards, reputational concerns, and differences in standards during economic crises by the two rating agencies. The third essay investigates the factors determining the allocation of different (split) credit ratings to the same firm by the two agencies. We use financial, governance and other factors in an attempt to capture various subjective elements to explain split credit ratings. The study uses a two-stage bivariate probit estimation method. We use a sample of 5238 firm-year observations from S&P 500, S&P 400, and S&P 600 index constituent firms. Our results indicate that a firm having greater size, favourable coverage and higher profitability are less likely to have a split. However, smaller firms with unfavourable coverage and lower profitability appear to be rated lower by Moody’s in comparison to S&P. Our findings suggest that the stage of the business cycle plays no significant role in deciding splits, but rating shopping and the introduction of regulation FD increase the likelihood of splits arising.

It is common in cross-cultural research to treat variables as if they have interval scale properties irrespective of how these scales were constructed. The purpose of this research is to explore the differences in and consequences of how respondents from different countries use the same scales over the same scale items. Previously collected data from four countries using the same 6-point verbal and 10-point numeric rating scales were used. The data was rescaled using the delta chi-square and correspondence analysis techniques (Bendixen & Yurova, 2012). The differences in means of the variables were compared in pairs for raw and rescaled data. Bootstrapping was used to estimate confidence intervals of the differences between raw and rescaled values. Furthermore, a method of partitioning the differences in means into rescaling and cultural components was devised. In 83.3% and 94.9% of the cases, the differences in raw versus rescaled means were significant at the 5% level for verbal and numeric variables respectively. The results of partitioning indicate that by not rescaling the data, the differences in raw means consistently exaggerate the true cultural differences: the extracted cultural component was underestimated by 12.8% on average for verbal variables and by 5.3% for numeric variables. Therefore, reporting the differences in raw means as a true reflection of cultural differences is in error. Finally, the effect of rescaling in pancultural research was investigated by comparing the factor structure of doubly standardized raw and rescaled data. Pancultural research attempts to identify etic, or universal, dimensions of human culture and employs double standardization to remove cultural and individual biases inherent to cross-cultural data. While no differences in latent factors extracted were found for raw and rescaled data, considerable differences in the variance explained and slight differences in factor structure were found for double standardized rescaled and double standardized raw data. The results of this research indicate that researchers and practitioners in the field of cross-cultural research should choose their scales very carefully. Furthermore, to extract true cultural differences it is probably necessary to rescale and partition differences in means. Further research on the impact of rescaling is proposed.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the validity of a new teacher rating inventory, the Iowa Early Learning Inventory (IELI). It is intended to assess the young students' cognitive behaviors, behaviors related to or supportive of the learning process. It is intended to be useful for early identification of students who are likely to encounter learning difficulties later in their academic careers. The intended users are kindergarten and 1st grade teachers. The construct theory of the IELI was empirically derived using qualitative analysis of behavior statements obtained from relevant sources. Six areas of cognitive behaviors emerged from the qualitative analysis. The IELI was constructed to measure these areas using representative behaviors for item content. All six areas of cognitive behaviors had medium or strong correlations with each other and all had correlations of medium strength with ITBS achievement measures. Investigation of the relationship of individual cognitive behavior areas with selected measures of achievement supported that the IELI captures variance related to other measures of related constructs. Confirmatory factor analyses of the structure of the IELI investigated five models consisting of the six areas. None of the models was evaluated as adequately fitting the data. The most promising model consisted of six correlated areas or factors, each defined by the items intended to measure the respective cognitive area. Investigation of sex DIF identified a small number of potential problems in three of the six areas, but investigation of ethnic DIF was inconclusive but called for further investigation. Overall, the results indicated that the IELI provides useful and valid information about the cognitive relationships of early learners.

This research study involves three essays and examines CRQ-driven decision making from the points of view of the common firm, social-commerce platform provider, and social-commerce echo-system. It addresses CRQ's progression from traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) initiatives to social platform-specific antecedents and to environment-driven factors lying outside the direct control of the platform provider, yet influencing social commerce business decisions, such as user-generated content from peers (e.g. family, friends) and expert authority (e.g. specialists, experts, professional organizations). The research method used statistical, data mining and computer science techniques. The results suggest that social platform providers should take a proactive approach to CRQ, fully leverage their online platform to improve CRQ while paying special attention to security as a potential barrier, and consider the analysis of elements of the echo-system such as the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) to further drive CRQ and determine the level of alignment between customers and experts, suppliers and products featured, that may lead to value-added managerial insights such as the prioritization, promotion and optimization of such relationships.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether a novel, user-friendly rating system, visual sort and rate (VSR) provides comparable ratings to the currently used direct magnitude estimation (DME) rating system for rating perceptions of audible nasal emission (ANE) and hypernasality in cleft palate speakers. Methods: Twelve naïve listeners rated 152 speech samples of speakers with cleft palate across four conditions: rating hypernasality and ANE using either a VSR or DME rating scale. Raters were provided with a short training session, prior to rating each day. Inter- and intra-rater reliabilities, as well the line of best fit between scores using VSR and scores using DME was calculated to determine usability of VSR as a novel rating system. Results: Direct magnitude estimation resulted in the highest levels of inter-rater reliability, when rating hypernasality (DME r= .48; VSR r=.14), as well as ANE (DME r= .27; VSR r=.15). Most raters demonstrated high intra-rater reliabilities across conditions. A curvilinear line of best fit most accurately captured the relationship between DME and VSR scores when rating hypernasality (r=.64) and ANE (r=.66). Conclusions: A curvilinear relationship between ratings suggests that both variables are prothetic, and therefore, best captured using a DME rating scale (Eadie & Doyle, 2002). The use of DME is supported for continued use rating hypernasality, even amongst naïve listeners given a training session. Rating ANE was difficult, as ratings yielded low inter-rater reliabilities, regardless of the scale used. Further research regarding perceptions of audible nasal emission is warranted.

Investment in hospitality firms is perceived to be riskier than investments in other types of industries. Based on literature linking good corporate governance to lower default risks and higher credit ratings, this quantitative study is designed to identify the effects of corporate governance on credit ratings in the hospitality industry. After exploring the various factors influencing the characteristics of corporate governance, as well as the specific risks for capital financing in hospitality firms, this research provides empirical evidence to show that hospitality firms with stronger shareholder influence tend to have higher credit ratings. In a related finding, this investigation confirms that hospitality stakeholders are able to evaluate their potential risks by determining a firm's credit ratings and can protect their long-term interest by increasing their power versus management in the corporate governance of the firm. / Master of Science

The Daily Assessment Form (OAF) retrospectively assessed symptoms of late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD), both at the beginning and at the end of a 2-month time interval. Ninety-four women between the ages of 18 and 45 entered the study. Half of the subjects viewed a negative-case, stereotypic presentation of LLPDD prior to the pretest. sixty-eight subjects qualified on the pretest to complete the study. Half of the remaining no-case subjects and half of the remaining negative-case subjects completed 8 weeks' prospective ratings via the OAF. Forty-eight subjects remained to complete the posttest at the end of that time interval. Pretest Total and Pretest Criteria scores revealed significant main effects for case-presentation condition (E[l,63] = 7.08, R = .01) and (E[l,63] = 8.34, R = .01) and completion level (E[l,63] = 6.76, R = .01) and (E[l,63] = 3.76, R .06). Effect sizes equalled 0.48 and 0.45 for case presentation and 1.92 and 1.98 for completion.

This write-up is submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Management Degree in Finance and Investment / Through the use of an EGARCH model and a fixed effects panel regression, the reaction of emerging market stock and bond volatility to sovereign credit ratings changes is examined. The daily data covers the period of 1990 to 2016 and emerging market crises, such as the 1994 Mexican peso crisis, 1997 Asian financial crises and the global 2008 financial crises. The estimations provide evidence of an asymmetric effect of rating changes on stock volatilities, whereby downgrades have a significant impact, while upgrades have no such effect. For bonds the effect is ambiguous with both upgrades and downgrades having an effect. Downgrades are found to increase both stock and bond market volatility. On aggregate, contagion effects amongst stocks are found for emerging markets, as well as for the continents of Asia and Europe. No such evidence is found for bonds. / MT2017

This dissertation comprises of three essays that examine different aspects of e-commerce. Given that e-commerce is growing exponentially around the globe, these essays makes contributions to the literature that might continue to spur this growth.