Re: What is guessing?
In a message dated 11/6/2000 7:59:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For example, there are a number of strategies that examinees can use to get better than chance performance even when they have no knowlege of the tested material -- for example, always choosing the longest answer option (Kalat showed that this strategy works well with the poorly constructed items in typical intro psych test banks -- I always take care to avoid writing MC questions where this strategy would pay off) My last word, because I know that most people aren't interested and are possibly annoyed. This is all speculative despite any one listmember's belief that they have some kind of uncontestable scientific support for their opinion on this matter. Students may "know" that they should (when in doubt) - always select the longest/shortest answer - always select "C" - never select answers containing the word "always" but the reality is that not all will employ these strategies consistently. I have watched students who spent months practicing suddenly "forget" everything they have learned due to their own anxiety and begin answering thoughtlessly and impulsively. And I have witnessed students surveying a tough analogy item with stem pair words that they have never seen or don't recognize and five words the meanings of which they do not know. There is such a thing as "blind" or "bad" guessing. I am not saying that all students should be coached to skip items. That was never my point. But, in my experience, some students are better off skipping items, sometimes. Nancy Melucci
Night blindness
As a bit of Canadian content, a team of researchers at the University of Calgary apparently just announced that they've discovered a gene for it. A news item on it appeared in Canadian newspapers on October 31, 2000. See http://www.canoe.ca/Health0010/31_blindness-cp.html I say "apparently" because if you go the University of Calgary website ( http://www.rpresearch.ca/vw1f-81.htm), it turns out the news dates back to an article in Nature Genetics in 1998. But it seems that this news refers to a follow-up study in the same journal. Here's the abstract. -Stephen Nat Genet 2000 Nov;26(3):319-323 Mutations in NYX, encoding the leucine-rich proteoglycan nyctalopin, cause X-linked complete congenital stationary night blindness. Bech-Hansen NT, Naylor MJ, Maybaum TA, Sparkes RL, Koop B, Birch DG, Bergen AA, Prinsen CF, Polomeno RC, Gal A, Drack AV, Musarella MA, Jacobson SG, Young RS, Weleber RG Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. During development, visual photoreceptors, bipolar cells and other neurons establish connections within the retina enabling the eye to process visual images over approximately 7 log units of illumination. Within the retina, cells that respond to light increment and light decrement are separated into ON- and OFF-pathways. Hereditary diseases are known to disturb these retinal pathways, causing either progressive degeneration or stationary deficits. Congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) is a group of stable retinal disorders that are characterized by abnormal night vision. Genetic subtypes of CSNB have been defined and different disease actions have been postulated. The molecular bases have been elucidated in several subtypes, providing a better understanding of the disease mechanisms and developmental retinal neurobiology. Here we have studied 22 families with 'complete' X-linked CSNB (CSNB1; MIM 310500; ref. 4) in which affected males have night blindness, some photopic vision loss and a defect of the ON-pathway. We have found 14 different mutations, including 1 founder mutation in 7 families from the United States, in a novel candidate gene, NYX. NYX, which encodes a glycosylphosphatidyl (GPI)-anchored protein called nyctalopin, is a new and unique member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP) family. The role of other SLRP proteins suggests that mutant nyctalopin disrupts developing retinal interconnections involving the ON-bipolar cells, leading to the visual losses seen in patients with complete CSNB. Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
Re: Guessing on the GRE: the grand synthesis
At 12:20 AM 11/7/2000 -0500, Stephen Black wrote: Concerning my objection to Marc Turner's post on being a "good guesser" on the grounds that there's no such thing, I see now I admit it... bad choice of phrasing on my part with that one. than what would be expected on average. I suggest "lucky guesser" is a less confusing term for what he had in mind. And, contrary True... I thought about this later on as well... lucky and unlucky instead of good and lousy... So the advice to a student would be: If you have no basis whatsoever for deciding among the five alternatives, guess if you're a gamblin' man (or woman), or don't guess if you're a cautious sort. But only the very poorest of students answering Agreed... and my sole point of joining this discussion was to argue that true random guessing could hurt someone's score. I think this was Nancy's main point as well. Actually, I don't think any of us were ever that far apart, but there might have been some miscommunications along the way... (for example, my "good" guessers) Hope all is well... - Marc (And unless something else that I strongly disagree with shows up, I'm back to work on the dissertation... the fun never ends... how could it end? It never started!) G. Marc Turner, MEd Lecturer Head of Computer Operations Department of Psychology Southwest Texas State University San Marcos, TX 78666 phone: (512)245-2526 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
No Subject
The results are in - and the answer is - there really doesn't seem to be much out there! The two that someone gave me here are "Descriptive Tests of Language Skills in Critical Reasoning" (1989, ETS - a multiple choice test) and "The Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test" (an essay test based on response to a letter to the editor). The other responses are listed below. Deb - How about John Newman's Scale of Adult Intellectual Development? 60 items, giving scores on Absolutism, Relativism, and Evaluativism? If you're interested, I can send copies of the materials that he sent me, including definitions of the constructs and reports on reliability. Paul Smith Alverno College Jeff Ricker asked about good measures of critical thinking. The University of East Anglia's the Centre for Research in Critical Thinking has published a book by Alec Fisher and Michael Scriven called 'Critical Thinking: Its Definition and Assessment'. This may be of assistance. Details can be found at: http://www.uea.ac.uk/soc/phil/research/critbook.shtml. The homepage for the Centre for Research in Critical Thinking is at: http://www.uea.ac.uk/soc/phil/research/critphil.shtml. Wayne Spencer Deb Dr. Deborah S. Briihl Dept. of Psychology and Counseling Valdosta State University Valdosta, GA 31698 (229) 333-5994 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Well I know these voices must be my soul... Rhyme and Reason - DMB
Graduate admissions: Honors versus major?
Greetings: In Canada, an honors psychology BA or BSc degree is usually seen as essential to entering almost any graduate program in psychology. (Our honors degree requires a dissertation and various courses that are not needed for the major, as well as a specified average grade). Can our friends in the USA enlighten us as to whether reputable graduate schools there will accept applicants who hold only the BA major (not honors) in psychology? Some of our graduating students are concerned about this, and I'd like to be able to help them. (Please post your comments to the list). Thanks, Leo Standing --- Leo Standing, PhD Phone: 819-822-9600, ex.2456 Chair, Psychology Dept. Bishop's University, Lennoxville, QC Fax: 819-822-9661 Canada J1M 1Z7 Home: 819-346-1897 http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
making the BA distinctive
At North Central College, we offer both the BA and BS in psychology. The main difference is that the BS requires more courses in science and math. We are interested in doing something to make the BA more distinctive, rather than being just the easier option (e.g., requiring a philosophy of science course, other coursework in the social sciences, language requirement, etc.). I was wondering if anyone out there works at a place where the BA has such requirements that make it distinctive (again, rather than just easier), and if so, what are the requirements? Thanks, Steve -- ** * Steven M. Davis, Ph.D. * * Assistant Professor of Psychology * * North Central College * * 30 N. Brainard St. * * Naperville, IL 60566-7063 * ** * [EMAIL PROTECTED]630/637-5327 (office) 630/637-5121 (fax) * ** http://www.noctrl.edu/academics/departments/psychology/department_site/psychome.htm begin:vcard n:davis;steve x-mozilla-html:FALSE adr:;; version:2.1 email;internet:[EMAIL PROTECTED] x-mozilla-cpt:;-15984 fn:Steve Davis end:vcard
Re: Graduate admissions: Honors versus major?
Leo and Tipsters, I know that many USA grad programs do not require an honors degree. Many of our students here at Heidelberg have gotten into grad school (in the US) without being honors students. My own experience bears this out, as well. I was admitted to the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Purdue University without and honors degree and without so much as an undergrad psychology major. I actually had an English B.A. and a Nursing B.S. (but I had killer GREs). I have no empirical evidence to share beyond these anecdotes. Esther At 01:47 PM 11/7/00 -0500, Leo Standing wrote: Greetings: In Canada, an honors psychology BA or BSc degree is usually seen as essential to entering almost any graduate program in psychology. (Our honors degree requires a dissertation and various courses that are not needed for the major, as well as a specified average grade). Can our friends in the USA enlighten us as to whether reputable graduate schools there will accept applicants who hold only the BA major (not honors) in psychology? Some of our graduating students are concerned about this, and I'd like to be able to help them. (Please post your comments to the list). Thanks, Leo Standing --- Leo Standing, PhD Phone: 819-822-9600, ex.2456 Chair, Psychology Dept. Bishop's University, Lennoxville, QC Fax: 819-822-9661 Canada J1M 1Z7 Home: 819-346-1897 http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Esther Strahan, Ph.D Assistant Professor of Psychology Heidelberg College 310 E. Market St. Tiffin, Ohio 44883 Tel. (419) 448-2238 Fax (419) 448-2236
RE: Graduate admissions: Honors versus major?
Leo, I earned my degree at Vanderbilt in the Psychology and Human Development program. They didn't even require graduate students to have an undergrad degree in psychology. My peers in the PhD program were coming from a variety of undergrad backgrounds, including physics and religion, although most of them did have either a BA or BS in psychology. More important were grades, GRE scores, research experience, and in particular the personal essay. Faculty often advocated for a particular applicant when on the basis of the essay and perhaps a phone call or interview it appeared that the prospective student was interested in that faculty member's research. Let me know if you'd like more details. Nathalie Cote * Nathalie Coté Assistant Professor of Psychology Belmont Abbey College 100 Belmont - Mt. Holly Road Belmont, NC 28012 (704) 825-6754 -Original Message- From: Leo Standing [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 1:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Graduate admissions: Honors versus major? Greetings: In Canada, an honors psychology BA or BSc degree is usually seen as essential to entering almost any graduate program in psychology. (Our honors degree requires a dissertation and various courses that are not needed for the major, as well as a specified average grade). Can our friends in the USA enlighten us as to whether reputable graduate schools there will accept applicants who hold only the BA major (not honors) in psychology? Some of our graduating students are concerned about this, and I'd like to be able to help them. (Please post your comments to the list). Thanks, Leo Standing --- Leo Standing, PhD Phone: 819-822-9600, ex.2456 Chair, Psychology Dept. Bishop's University, Lennoxville, QC Fax: 819-822-9661 Canada J1M 1Z7 Home: 819-346-1897 http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Simulating data
Suppose you were in a Methods or Statistics class in which you had to design a study, create the materials, collect some of the data, and then use the data from this partial sample to simulate or fill in fictitious data for the rest of the sample. Let's say, for example, that you've collected scores on self-esteem and body image instruments from 10 college men and 10 college women, and you want to use those data as the basis for generating fake data for 40 more women and 40 more men. The data will then be analyzed for correlations between the measures and differences between men and women on each measure and on the correlations. One thread, of course, might be to discuss why anyone would want to do this. Let's assume for the moment that it's done for good reasons. What I am interested in is, how would you go about simulating the data? * Nathalie Coté Assistant Professor of Psychology Belmont Abbey College 100 Belmont - Mt. Holly Road Belmont, NC 28012 (704) 825-6754
another student question
Hi everyone. Does anyone have any leads or suggestions for this question? Why do we sleep with our eyes closed? In other words, aside from the obvious, what biological factors are responsible for sleeping with our eyes closed. Thanks! Salvatore Cullari, Ph.D.E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor Chair, Psychology DepartmentVoice: 717-867-6197 Lebanon Valley College Fax: 717-867-6075 Annville, Pa. 17003 Moderator, Psy-PA Department's Homepage: http://www.lvc.edu/www/psychology/index.html Personal Web site: http://www.nvo.com/scullari/door
Re: Simulating data
Hi Sorry for this going out with the "mailing list" subject header. An oversight on my part. On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, Nathalie Cote wrote: Suppose you were in a Methods or Statistics class in which you had to design a study, create the materials, collect some of the data, and then use the data from this partial sample to simulate or fill in fictitious data for the rest of the sample. Let's say, for example, that you've collected scores on self-esteem and body image instruments from 10 college men and 10 college women, and you want to use those data as the basis for generating fake data for 40 more women and 40 more men. The data will then be analyzed for correlations between the measures and differences between men and women on each measure and on the correlations. I do two variations of this for my honours methods and stats class. (1) They work on individualized assignments that are computer generated. I use SPSS algorithms for generating samples from known populations (e.g., specified mu, sigma, rho, ...) and they include their students numbers as part of the SET SEED= value. SEED determines the actual data. So you could use the 10 observations to "estimate" mu, sigma, and rho, and then plug those values into the SPSS routines. When I get into more complex situations (e.g., multiple regression, factorial anovas) there is some "trial and error" work in getting realistic data. (2) We also do a class project each term, where we design a study, develop measures, etc. Ideally we then run a study with 100 or more real subjects. I give them algorithms to sample a specified number of observations out of the entire data set for their personal analyses and writeups. Occasionally there has not been enough time to collect full data so we end up with just data for the class (30-40 students). In those cases, I have "replicated" data set. That is, simply add the set of observations to itself a specified number of times, and then sample from this expanded set. Ten might be a little low to do this approach on, depending on what you want the final n to be. Best wishes Jim James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology(204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
RE: Simulating data
Here is an example of how do simulate data for a simple bivariate linear model using SAS. I use this macro to generate a different random sample for each student in the class, with data posted on the web for them and with solutions to me. If you want a less hands-on approach, I recommend Drake Bradley's DATASIM software. TITLE1 'Simulation from Wuensch, Castellow, Moore, JSBP, 1991.'; %MACRO MREG; DATA SOL; drop subject; DO subject = 1 TO 100; serious=round(5.5+1.6*NORMAL(0)); if serious 9 then serious = 9;if serious 1 then serious = 1; sentence = round(-.92+1.16*serious+2.78*NORMAL(0)); if sentence 1 then sentence = 1;if sentence 15 then sentence = 15; OUTPUT;FILE "C:\SimData\%name.dat";PUT sentence serious; end; TITLE3 "Analysis of Regression Data Given to %ST"; PROC REG simple corr; MODEL sentence = serious; %MEND MREG; + Karl L. Wuensch, Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville NC 27858-4353 Voice: 252-328-4102 Fax: 252-328-6283 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/klw.htm http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/klw.htm
Re: Simulating data
Natalie: There is a technique called "boostraping" for resampling from your data set to get a more stable estimate of values. You may want to check your local stat package to see if that is available. For class assignments I use "lo-tech" techniques like Jim and create pseudosubject scores by jittering the data with calls to a random number generator such that the mean jitter effect is 0 and the range is some reasonable value, depending on the question. Treatment effects may be simulated by adding a jitterized constant. Ken On Tue, 07 Nov 2000 15:33:53 -0500 Nathalie Cote [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Suppose you were in a Methods or Statistics class in which you had to design a study, create the materials, collect some of the data, and then use the data from this partial sample to simulate or fill in fictitious data for the rest of the sample. Let's say, for example, that you've collected scores on self-esteem and body image instruments from 10 college men and 10 college women, and you want to use those data as the basis for generating fake data for 40 more women and 40 more men. The data will then be analyzed for correlations between the measures and differences between men and women on each measure and on the correlations. One thread, of course, might be to discuss why anyone would want to do this. Let's assume for the moment that it's done for good reasons. What I am interested in is, how would you go about simulating the data? -- Kenneth M. Steele[EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept. of Psychology Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA
Re: Simulating data/spelling correction
On Tue, 07 Nov 2000 17:21:11 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) "Kenneth M. Steele" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There is a technique called "boostraping" for resampling from That is "bootstrap" (as in lift yourself up by your own ...) Ken -- Kenneth M. Steele[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: another student question
light destroys melatonin. Ron Blue - Original Message - From: "Salvatore Cullari" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 3:33 PM Subject: another student question Hi everyone. Does anyone have any leads or suggestions for this question? Why do we sleep with our eyes closed? In other words, aside from the obvious, what biological factors are responsible for sleeping with our eyes closed. Thanks! Salvatore Cullari, Ph.D.E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor Chair, Psychology DepartmentVoice: 717-867-6197 Lebanon Valley College Fax: 717-867-6075 Annville, Pa. 17003 Moderator, Psy-PA Department's Homepage: http://www.lvc.edu/www/psychology/index.html Personal Web site: http://www.nvo.com/scullari/door
Simulated Data
Hi If anyone would like to have a closer look at the techniques I use to generate sample data for class exercises, I have started a collection at www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark/sim. Comments would be appreciated. I have quite a few of these from over the years and will slowly pick away at posting them there (especially if there is much interest in this idea). Best wishes Jim James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology(204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
National Social Studies Convention
Would anyone want to share a room at the National Social Studies Convention in San Antonio. I have booked a room across from the Alamo. Steve Steve Rambach Lanphier High School 1300 N 11th Street 62702
