Students' retention in STEM-related careers is of great concern for educators and researchers, especially the retention of underrepresented groups such as females, Hispanics, and Blacks in these careers. Therefore it is important to study factors that could potentially influence students' decision to stay in STEM. The work described in this dissertation involved three research studies where assessments have been used in college chemistry courses to assess students' prior content knowledge, chemistry-self-efficacy, and attitude toward science. These three factors have been suggested to have an influence on students' performance in a course and could eventually be a retention factor. The first research study involved the development and use of an instrument to measure biochemistry prior knowledge of foundational concepts from chemistry and biology that are considered important for biochemistry learning. This instrument was developed with a parallel structure where three items were used to measure a concept and common incorrect ideas were used as distractors. The specific structure of this instrument allows the identification of common incorrect ideas that students have when entering biochemistry and that can hinder students' learning of biochemistry concepts. This instrument was given as pre/posttest to students enrolled in introductory biochemistry courses. The findings indicated that some incorrect ideas are persistent even after instruction, as is the case for bond energy and the structure of the alpha helix concepts. This study highlights the importance of measuring prior conceptual knowledge; so that instructors can plan interventions to help students overcome their incorrect ideas. For the second research study, students' chemistry self-efficacy was measured five times during a semester of preparatory college chemistry. Chemistry self-efficacy beliefs have been linked to students' achievement, and students with stronger self-efficacy are more likely to try challenging tasks and persist in them, which will help them to stay in STEM. Using multilevel modeling analysis to examine potential differences in students' self-efficacy beliefs by sex and race/ethnicity, it was found that there were some differences in the trends by race/ethnicity. In particular, we found that for Hispanic and Black males the trends were negative when compared with White males. This study highlights the importance of measuring self-efficacy at different time points in the semester and for instructors to be aware of potential differences in their students' confidence when working on a chemistry task. The third research study involves the use of the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) in an introductory chemistry course. A shortened version of the instrument that includes three scales, normality of scientists, attitude toward inquiry, and career interest in science was used. The first purpose of this study was to gather validity evidence for the internal structure of the instrument with college chemistry students. Using measurement invariance analysis by sex and race/ethnicity, it was found that the internal structure holds by sex, but it did not hold for Blacks in our sample. Further analysis revealed problems with the normality scales for Blacks. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between the scales of TOSRA, achievement in chemistry, and math prior knowledge. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) it was found that two of the TOSRA scales, attitude toward inquiry and career interest in science, have a small but significant influence on students' achievement in chemistry. This study highlights the importance of examining if the scores apply similarly for different group of students in a population, since the scores on these assessments could be used to make decisions that will affect student. The research studies presented in this work are a step forward with our intention to understand better the factors that can influence students' decisions to stay or leave STEM-related careers. Each study has provided psychometric evidence for the use of three different assessments in college chemistry courses. Instructors can use these assessments in large and small lecture classrooms. Information obtained from these assessments can then be used to make target interventions to help students learn and/or be more confident on a given task. Also, it highlights the importance to look at different group of students, such as the underrepresented groups, since response trends may be different. Being aware of students' diverse needs will help us to understand some of the challenges that student face in the chemistry classroom. Understanding some of these challenges will help instructors be more prepared for teaching.

Student performance in college chemistry courses remains a concern for educators seeking to help improve the future STEM workforce. Besides math ability and prior chemistry knowledge, spatial ability and attitude toward chemistry have been considered as important factors influencing college chemistry performance. This work includes five studies and uses data collected from instruments to examine the relationships of these two factors - spatial ability and attitude - with student chemistry performance, and provides psychometric evidence for using the Purdue Visualization of Rotations test (ROT) and Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory (ASCIv2) to measure these two factors, respectively, in college chemistry classrooms. The first two studies are about the evaluation and application of the ROT to measure the spatial ability of college chemistry students. Study 1, Sex difference in spatial ability for college students and exploration of measurement invariance, examines whether ROT items function in the same way between sexes. This study provides evidence that the ROT is an appropriate tool to measure the mental rotation component of spatial ability for college students. Results indicate the bi-factorial structure of ROT items, with each of the five items sharing the same rotation pattern. Thus, the item score is influenced by the general construct of mental rotation ability and the item rotation pattern. In addition, ROT items function in the same way across sexes; therefore, they can support the use of ROT for examining sex difference with less concern about test bias. A sex gap favoring males persists in the data. The second study, The role of spatial ability in students' progression through organic chemistry, examines whether students who scored low on the ROT in general chemistry are less likely to advance through organic chemistry, and the relationship of spatial ability to organic chemistry course grades for students who completed organic chemistry courses. The findings indicate that the ability to perform mental rotations, as measured by the ROT, does not present a barrier for students seeking to advance and succeed in the organic chemistry course sequence in the current setting after other factors, such as math ability, are held constant. For students who were at the low end of ROT, alternate approaches can be used to compensate for the lack of mental rotation ability to solve spatial-related chemistry problems, as suggested by the literature. The next three studies are about the evaluation and application of the ASCIv2 to measure student attitude toward chemistry. The ASCIv2 is based upon a previous publication, Refinement of a chemistry attitude measure for college students. Study 3, Attitude toward the subject of chemistry in Australia: An ALIUS and POGIL collaboration to promote cross-national comparisons, and Study 4, Gathering psychometric evidence for ASCIv2 to support cross-cultural attitudinal studies for college chemistry programs, gather psychometric evidence for the use of ASCIv2 internationally. The purpose for these two pilot studies is to investigate how ASCIv2 functions at multiple sites where the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is implemented with one of the objectives being to foster a positive attitude toward the subject in general. One student cohort is from a university in Australia, and the other is from a Saudi Arabian institution. The findings suggest ASCIv2 can be an appropriate tool to measure attitude in an Australian context; however, Saudi Arabian student cohorts responded differently to the item (chemistry is challenging vs. unchallenging), which raises concern about using these items to measure the attitude subscale for students in Saudi Arabia. As compared to Australian and Saudi Arabian students, US students at SE exhibited a negative attitude towards chemistry. Special attention should be paid to ways of getting students more interested in Chemistry. The last study, College students' attitudes toward chemistry, conceptual knowledge and achievement: structural equation model analysis, examines the contribution of attitude to chemistry performance when math ability and prior chemistry conceptual knowledge are controlled. Results reveal that a full SEM model using three predictors at the beginning of the semester can explain a very high percentage (69%) of the variance in chemistry achievement at the end of course. Both prior conceptual knowledge and attitude toward chemistry contribute a significant unique portion to the prediction of chemistry achievement when controlling for math ability. Therefore, we should not ignore the importance of student conceptual understanding and attitude. Additional analysis was performed using both ROT and ASCIv2. Results from multiple regression analysis indicate that the unique contribution of the ROT score to the ACS general chemistry exam score is not significant when other variables, such as attitude and math ability, are controlled.

Family accommodation is a salient construct within the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and occurs in a large majority of affected individuals and their families. Accommodating behaviors can manifest in various ways, including participation in the patient's rituals, modifying everyday routines, facilitating compulsive behaviors, or providing reassurance. It has been repeatedly linked to negative outcomes, such as attenuated treatment response, increased obsessive-compulsive symptom severity, higher levels of family distress, and lower levels of functioning. As such, it is of significant clinical importance to have a standardized measure that is able to be used in research and clinical practice. The Family Accommodation Scale for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (FAS) was the initial attempt at a measure to systematically assess for family accommodation in patients with OCD, with different clinician-rated and self-reported versions completed by the relative arising thereafter. However, to date, there is not a patient-reported version of the instrument. Existing measures focus on reports from the relative (e.g., the patient's significant other, parent), overlooking information from the patient themselves. Additionally, adult patients with OCD often present to clinical services alone, frequently making it impractical to obtain information from their relative. As such, it is important to have a standardized patient-reported measure to examine the accommodating behaviors. The present study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Family Accommodation Scale for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - Patient Version (FAS-PV). A large majority of the participants (88.5%) endorsed at least one type of accommodating behavior in the previous week. Provision of reassurance and waiting for completion of compulsions were the most frequently reported behaviors, while helping with personal tasks and making excuses/lying due to OCD-related impairment were the least frequently endorsed. The FAS-PV demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as good convergent/divergent validity. The FAS-PV did not significantly differ from the relative-reported measure of family accommodation in terms of internal consistency or mean scores. Ultimately, the FAS-PV demonstrated sound psychometric properties and utility in assessing family accommodation from the patient's perspective.

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores taken from a series of four task simulations used to evaluate medical students. The four role-play exercises represented two different cases or scripts, yielding two pairs of exercises that are considered alternate forms. The design allowed examining what is essentially the ceiling for reliability and validity of ratings taken in such role plays. A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was computed with exercises as methods and competencies (history taking, clinical skills, and communication) as traits. The results within alternate forms (within cases) were then used as a baseline to evaluate the reliability and validity of scores between the alternate forms (between cases). There was much less of an exercise effect (method variance, monomethod bias) in this study than is typically found in MTMM matrices for performance measurement. However, the convergent validity of the dimensions across exercises was weak both within and between cases. The study also examined the reliability of ratings by training raters to watch video recordings of the same four exercises who then complete the same forms used by the standardized patients. Generalizability analysis was used to compute variance components for case, station, rater, and ratee (medical student), which allowed the computation of reliability estimates for multiple designs. Both the generalizability analysis and the MTMM analysis indicated that rather long examinations (approximately 20 to 40 exercises) would be needed to create reliable examination scores for this population of examinees. Additionally, interjudge agreement was better for more objective dimensions (history taking, physical examination) than for the more subjective dimension (communication).

Background: Non-specific low back pain is a growing problem in society. No treatment have shown satisfying results to reduce pain or disability for patients with non-specific low back pain, and 1-18% of these patients develop chronic low back pain. STarT Back Screening Tool (SBST) is an instrument for sub grouping patients with non-specific low back pain into low, medium or high risk of developing chronic low back pain and then modifying the treatment after the different needs of every patient. The purpose of this study was to do a systematic review, investigating validation of the SBST to evaluate the justification of its use by clinicians. Method: Pubmed, Cinahl and Medline was searched in February 2017 for studies investigating criterion validity, construct validity and content validity of the SBST. The author (JG) assessed risk of bias and extracted relevant data following the procedures of PRISMA-statement. Result: 15 articles were identified for inclusion in the review. 8 articles investigated criterion validity, 11 articles investigated construct validity and 1 article investigated content validity. Predictive validity showed heterogeneous statistical analysis and varying results, a narrative result was presented that showed marginal benefits for the use of SBST for prediction of future outcome. Concurrent validity was measured with Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient in all investigated articles, showing results between 0.34-0.802. Discriminant validity was measured with Area under the curve analysis in all articles, scoring between 0.69-0.92. Convergent validity showed a Pearson’s correlation between 0.708-0.811 and a Spearman’s rank correlation between 0.35-0.74. Conclusion: Because of heterogeneity of the results it is not possible to draw conclusive conclusions. However, results tend to show limited evidence for the use of SBST as a predictive instrument for patients with non-specific low back pain.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / New scoring and test construction methods for emotional intelligence (EI) are suggested as alternatives for current practice, where most tests are scored by group judgment and are in ratings-based format. Both the ratings-based format and the proportion-based scores resulting from group judgments may act as method effects, obscuring relationships between EI tests, and between EI and intelligence. In addition, scoring based on standards rather than group judgments add clarity to the meaning of test scores. For these reasons, two new measures of emotional intelligence (EI) are constructed: (1) the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding (STEU); and (2) the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM). Following test construction, validity evidence is collected from four multi-variate studies. The STEU’s items and a standards-based scoring system are developed according to empirically derived appraisal theory concerning the structure of emotion [Roseman, 2001]. The STEM is developed as a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) with situations representing sadness, fear and anger in work life and personal life settings. Two qualitative studies form the basis for the STEM’s item development: (1) content analysis of responses to semi-structured interviews with 31 psychology undergraduates and 19 community volunteers; and (2) content analysis of free responses to targeted vignettes created from these semi-structured interviews (N = 99). The STEM may be scored according to two expert panels of emotions researchers, psychologists, therapists and life coaches (N = 12 and N = 6). In the first multi-variate study (N = 207 psychology undergraduates), both STEU and STEM scores relate strongly to vocabulary test scores and moderately to Agreeableness but no other dimension from the five-factor model of personality. STEU scores predict psychology grade and an emotionally-oriented thinking style after controlling vocabulary and personality test scores (ΔR2 = .08 and .06 respectively). STEM scores did not predict academic achievement but did predict emotionally-oriented thinking and life satisfaction (ΔR2 = .07 and .05 for emotionally-oriented thinking and .04 for life satisfaction). In the second multi-variate study, STEU scores predict lower levels of state anxiety, and STEM scores predict lower levels of state anxiety, depression, and stress among 149 community volunteers from Sydney, Australia. In the third multi-variate study (N = 181 psychology undergraduates), Strategic EI, fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc) were each measured with three indicators, allowing these constructs to be assessed at the latent variable level. Nested structural equation models show that Strategic EI and Gc form separate latent factors (Δχ2(1) = 12.44, p < .001). However, these factors relate very strongly (r = .73), indicating that Strategic EI may be a primary mental ability underlying Gc. In this study, STEM scores relate to emotionally-oriented thinking but not loneliness, life satisfaction or state stress, and STEU scores do not relate to any of these. STEM scores are significantly and meaningfully higher for females (d = .80), irrespective of gender differences in verbal ability or personality, or whether expert scores are derived from male or female experts. The fourth multi-variate study (N = 118 psychology undergraduates) distinguishes an EI latent factor (indicated by scores on the STEU, STEM and two emotion recognition ability measures) from a general cognitive ability factor (indicated by three intelligence measures; Δχ2(1) = 10.49, p < .001), although again cognitive ability and EI factors were strongly related (r = .66). Again, STEM scores were significantly higher for females (d = .44) and both STEU and STEM relate to Agreeableness but not to any other dimension from the five-factor model of personality. Taken together, results suggest that: (1) STEU and STEM scores are reasonably reliable and valid tests of EI; (2) EI tests assess slightly different constructs to existing measures of Gc, but more likely form a new primary mental ability within Gc than an entirely separate construct; and (3) the female superiority for EI tests may prove useful for addressing adverse impact in applied settings (e.g., selection for employment, promotion or educational opportunities), particularly given that many current assessment tools result in a male advantage.

<p>The general aim was to examine the Swedish version of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Multilevel Assessment Instrument, PGCMAI, in a population of old people with locomotor disability in Sweden. Specific aims were to examine whether the Swedish version of the PGCMAI meets the criteria of reliability and validity when assessing the life situation of Swedish old people with locomotor disability and to explore the pattern of the Swedish version of the instrument in respect of age and gender.</p><p>Home visits were made to 199 people aged 60 years and older in two counties in Sweden. They were interviewed using the Swedish version of the PGCMAI and tested with the Standardized Practical Equipment test, SPE. The data collected were tested for reliability and validity. Cronbach’s alpha varied from 0.27 to 0.86 among the eight domains of the PGCMAI, which concurred with other studies in the field. Validity was analyzed by explorative factor analysis. The eight new factors showed construct validity with a logical relation to the eight original domain distributions. There were also significant relationships between both the original domains of the PGCMAI and the SPE and the new factors of the PGCMAI and the SPE. Both the original Mobility domain index and the new factor correlated well with the ‘Balance and mobility’ factor in the SPE. The Cognitive domain index and the corresponding new factor show a high correlation with the ‘Cognitive functions’ factor in the SPE. The Swedish version of the PGCMAI and SPE presented a functional pattern among old men and women whereby women had deteriorated most with age, which is in agreement with other studies.</p><p>In conclusion the reliability and validity testing of the Swedish version of the PGCMAI has given satisfactory results when used with old people with locomotor disability. The Swedish version of the PGCMAI can be considered a valuable tool for measuring function in old people with locomotor disability.</p> / <p>Befolkningen åldras mer och mer, både i Europa och Sverige, som en följd av längre livslängd och låga födelsetal. Det ställer krav på samhällets resurser i form av vård och omsorg för äldre. I en tid när resurserna inte ökar blir det allt viktigare att samhällets stöd fördelas efter behov.</p><p>I den här studien utvecklades och prövades den svenska versionen av the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Multilevel Assessment Instrument, PGCMAI, på personer 60 år och äldre med rörelsehinder. Instrumentet omfattar åtta huvudsakliga funktionsområden eller domäner, Activities of Daily Living, ADL, Personal Adjustment, PADI, Physical Health, PHDI, Social, SDI, Environmental, EDSI, Time Use, Mobility, MOBI and Cognitive, CDI. Varje område består av frågor som ställs till den enskilde vid en intervju. Originalversionen av instrumentet, på amerikanska, finns i tre varianter eller längder, ’short-length’, ’mid-length’ och ’full-length’. Den svenska versionen av PGCMAI är en översättning och bearbetning av ’mid-length’ varianten.</p><p>Studiens målgrupp har varit äldre med rörelsehinder. Den har genomförts i tre steg. I det första steget skickades ett frågeformulär till 3469 personer, 60 år och äldre i två geografiska områden i Jönköpings och Värmlands län, där de tillfrågades om de hade något rörelsehinder. Det andra steget innebar att de som rapporterat rörelsehinder, 566 personer, erhöll ett nytt frågeformulär där de bl.a. tillfrågades om svårigheter att förflytta sig och ADL. Det tredje steget innebar att de som besvarade det andra frågeformuläret och accepterade besök i det egna hemmet, 199 personer, intervjuades med PGCMAI och testades med det praktiska testet, Standardized Practical Equipment test, SPE.</p><p>Det första delarbetet syftade till att utreda om den svenska versionen av PGCMAI fyllde kriterierna för reliabilitet och validitet vid bedömning av livssituationen hos äldre med rörelsehinder i Sverige.</p><p>Reliabilitet testades med Cronbach’s alpha och visade högre värde för det ursprungliga PGCMAI än för den svenska versionen, med undantag av domänerna EDSI och Time Use. Jämförelse av Cronbach´s alpha mellan äldre med rörelsehinder i den egna studien (n=199) och studie från 1982 av Lawton et al (n=590) visade likheter med högst värde för ursprungsinstrumentets domäner ADL, PADI och CDI, och lägst värde för domän SDI. Den svenska versionen av PGCMAI testades på validitet med exploratorisk faktoranalys av de 40 variabler i PGCMAI som ingick i de ursprungliga domänerna. Faktoranalysen identifierade åtta faktorer som förklarade 47% av variansen. Dessa åtta faktorer visade betydande överensstämmelse med det ursprungliga instrumentets åtta domäner. Högst korrelation med de nya faktorerna visade domänerna EDSI, SDI och ADL. MOBI i originalversionen och motsvarande faktor i den nya versionen visade högst korrelation med ’Balance and mobility’ i SPE, på motsvarande sätt erhölls samband mellan CDI och ’Cognitive functions’ i SPE.</p><p>Det andra delarbetet hade syftet att undersöka mönstret i den svenska versionen av PGCMAI utifrån ålder och kön samt i jämförelse med andra studier inom området.</p><p>Materialet analyserades i två och fyra åldersgrupper och indelat i män (n=67) och kvinnor (n=132). Analysen visade att rörelsehinder ökar med ålder både för män och kvinnor. Jämförelse mellan åldersgrupperna 60-79 år, 80-99 år, visa att rörligheten försämrades med ålder enligt domänen MOBI. För kvinnor försämrades förmågan enligt domänerna ADL, Time Use, MOBI, SDI och i alla SPE faktorerna, med ålder. Slutsatsen är att PGCMAI kunde särskilja ett funktionellt mönster bland äldre män och kvinnor med rörelsehinder och en försämring med ålder. SPE visade ett motsvarande resultat.</p><p>Slutsatsen av studien är att testningen av validitet och reliabilitet på den svenska versionen av PGCMAI har givit tillfredställande resultat när det används på gruppen 60 år och äldre med rörelsehinder. PGCMAI kunde särskilja funktionella mönster hos äldre män och kvinnor och visade att kvinnor med rörelsehinder hade försämrats mest med ålder. SPE visade liknande resultat. Den svenska versionen av PGCMAI bedöms vara ett värdefullt instrument för att mäta funktionen hos äldre med rörelsehinder och kan bli ett viktigt hjälpmedel för att ge rätt insats och i rätt omfattning.</p>

In this paper, a similarity-driven cluster merging method is proposed for unsupervised fuzzy clustering. The cluster merging method is used to resolve the problem of cluster validation. Starting with an overspecified number of clusters in the data, pairs of similar clusters are merged based on the proposed similarity-driven cluster merging criterion. The similarity between clusters is calculated by a fuzzy cluster similarity matrix, while an adaptive threshold is used for merging. In addition, a modified generalized objective function is used for prototype-based fuzzy clustering. The function includes the p-norm distance measure as well as principal components of the clusters. The number of the principal components is determined automatically from the data being clustered. The performance of this unsupervised fuzzy clustering algorithm is evaluated by several experiments of an artificial data set and a gene expression data set. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (Ph.D. (Marketing))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

Diabetes is a growing public health issue in Canada, and this concern is now extending to children and adolescents. Our goal was to conduct research projects aimed at pediatric diabetes surveillance in Alberta, Canada. To identify diabetes cases, we applied the National Diabetes Surveillance System (NDSS) case definition to retrospectively-collected, population-based datasets. Our first objective was to assess the regional variation in diabetes incidence and prevalence across urban and rural areas between 1995-2007. After observing an unexpected decrease in diabetes incidence between 2002-2006, our second objective was to investigate a possible association with changes in physician remuneration through Alternate Relationship Plans (ARPs) that may have affected the number of diabetes cases identified from administrative data. Our results indicated that there was no regional variation in diabetes incidence and prevalence over the period of study and that there was no association between ARPs and the observed decline in incident diabetes cases. / Epidemiology