Invalid Items Research Articles

Abstract: Female to Male Mastectomy in 245 Transgender Patients: A Prospective Study of Demographics, Patient Satisfaction, and Outcomes Using a Novel, Validated “TRANS”-Questionnaire (TRANS-Q)

BACKGROUND: Despite an increase in awareness and interest regarding transgender surgery, there is a dearth of research examining this patient population. We have developed a novel assessment tool, the TRANS-Q, a comprehensive, gender-specific questionnaire to assess patient demographics, sexual orientation, mental health concerns, self-reported physical attractiveness and barriers to healthcare. We have subsequently validated the study provide our results. METHODS: Following IRB approval, a prospective assessment tool, TRANSQ, was distributed pre- and post-operatively from August 2015 to May 2016 to individuals who went on to have female to male mastectomy (FTMM). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Chicago, IL, USA; IBM Corp). RESULTS: 245 patients were surveyed pre- and post-operatively, with 146 having completed both for a response rate of 60%. The average age for all patients was 26.7 years (17.7 – 61.6) and the mean follow-up was 6.2 months. There were statistically significant improvements post-operatively in personal satisfaction with shape and symmetry of chest and appearance of chest, with and without clothes, as well as significant improvements in patient comfort and confidence during sexual activity. 98% of patients reported that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the procedure, and 99% stated that surgery was the right decision for them. An overwhelming majority (95%) stated that they would encourage individuals in similar circumstances to undergo the procedure. Pre-operatively, 46.7% of patients were interested in having additional genital surgery and this decreased slightly to 42.3% post-operatively. The mean interest in additional genital surgeries was not statistically different post-operatively (3.2 vs 3.3; p > 0.5). 66% and 22.8% of individuals reported having contemplated or attempted suicide, respectively, pre-operatively. This improved to 38.5% and 8.1%, respectively, post-operatively (p < 0.001). 80.5% of patients reported depressive episodes pre-operatively vs 49.3% post-operatively (p < 0.001). Patients reporting anxiety attacks pre-operatively decreased from 66.5% to 40.8% post-operatively (p < 0.001). However, depression and anxiety severity, on scale of 1- 10, was not statistically different post-operatively. There was a significant reduction in the number of patients reporting chronic pain post-operatively, with a reduction from 27.3% to 9.4% (p = 0.009). Following, validation we achieved a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81 and modified the survey accordingly to remove invalid items. CONCLUSION: While awareness and interest in transgender surgery continue to grow, there are many unanswered questions regarding the impact on the individual of pursuing surgery. This study is the first of its kind to pre- and post-operatively survey genetic females who went on to pursue FTMM. We have demonstrated a diverse patient population in regards to age, sexual orientation and barriers to care. We hope that reports such as this will bring light to the growing field of transgender survey and the barriers that patients face when seeking gender confirmation surgery. We are in the process of continuing to enroll patients in this prospective study using the validated questionnaire while conducting a longitudinal analysis of patients already included to allow for more rigorous and long-term data analysis.

Inter-rater agreement in assigning levels of difficulty to examination questions in Life Sciences

Public perception of “declining standards” in school-leaving examinations often accompanies increases in pass rates in school-leaving examinations. “Declining standards” to the public means easier examination papers. The present study evaluates a South African attempt to estimate the level of difficulty, as distinct from cognitive demand, to exit-level examination papers in Life Sciences. A team of four expert raters assigned a level of difficulty ranging from 1 (easy) to 4 (very difficult). Invalid items were assigned a difficulty level of 0. The reference point was “the ideal average South African learner.” Discussion and practice was conducted for 12 examination papers, followed by individual analysis of four examination papers. Inter-rater agreement for the final four papers was low. Raters assigned most items to difficulty levels 1 and 2, indicating that unreliability may be caused by the instrument having too many levels. Raters’ predictions of levels of difficulty supported the actual mark distribution for private school candidates, but not for public school candidates. The “ideal average South African learner” is an unsuitable reference point in the unequal educational landscape of the public school system. We recommend that the instrument be modified by reducing the number of levels of difficulty and removing the hypothetical reference point. Keywords: comparability; difficulty; examinations; inter-rater agreement; reliability; standards

PENGEMBANGAN INSTRUMEN UNTUK MENGUKUR KEMAMPUAN PERSEPSI VISUAL DAN KESADARAN LINGUISTIK SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to describe the development and validation of test instrument that measure students’ visual perception and linguistic awareness. This is a part of a bigger study of quasi-experiment research which investigates the use of story reading through big book towards primary school students’ visual perception and linguistic awareness. The content validity is done by the expert judgment. Besides, items validity obtained from the trial tested to the first grader of primary schools. There are two sets of questions that consist of the same indicators but different question. 33 students fill set 1 and 30 students fill set 2. The result of expert validation is 87%, meanwhile, the item validity shows valid and invalid items. The researcher combined set 1 and set 2 to get the representation item from all indicators. The test reliability is in the good level. Based on these findings, the implication is that the instrument could be used due to its validity and reliability in measuring students' visual perception and linguistic awareness.

Validity Test and Reliability of Indonesian Language Multiple Choice in Final Term Examination

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Content validity of critical success factors for e-Government implementation in Indonesia

The purpose of this research is to validate the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of e-Government implementation in Indonesia. The e-Government initiative conducted only to obey the regulation but ignoring the quality. Defining CSFs will help government agencies to avoid failure of e-Government projects. A survey with the questionnaire was used to validate the item of CSF based on expert judgment through two round of Delphi. The result showed from 67 subjects in instrument tested; there are 11 invalid items deleted and remain only 56 items that had good content validity and internal reliability. Therefore, all 56 CSFs should be adopted by government agencies in Indonesia to support e-Government implementation.

Developing self-concept instrument for pre-service mathematics teachers

This study aimed to develop self-concept instrument for undergraduate students of mathematics education in Palembang, Indonesia. Type of this study was development research of non-test instrument in questionnaire form. A Validity test of the instrument was performed with construct validity test by using Pearson product moment and factor analysis, while reliability test used Cronbach’s alpha. The instrument was tested by 65 undergraduate students of mathematics education in one of the universities at Palembang, Indonesia. The instrument consisted of 43 items with 7 aspects of self-concept, that were the individual concern, social identity, individual personality, view of the future, the influence of others who become role models, the influence of the environment inside or outside the classroom, and view of the mathematics. The result of validity test showed there was one invalid item because the value of Pearson’s r was 0.107 less than the critical value (0.244; α = 0.05). The item was included in social identity aspect. After the invalid item was removed, Construct validity test with factor analysis generated only one factor. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient was 0.846 and reliability coefficient was 0.91. From that result, we concluded that the self-concept instrument for undergraduate students of mathematics education in Palembang, Indonesia was valid and reliable with 42 items.

Parameter Psikometri Alat Ukur Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) is a psychological scale to screen the Strengths and Difficulties the special student, emotional and behavioral problem, and school readiness. This adaptation of SDQ aims to test the psychometric parameter: validity, reliability and confirmatory factor analysis. The study was conducted to 153 subjects with the help of significant others in inclusive school and the center of autism at Malang. The analysis indicated 7 invalid items with reliability 0,759. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that all of factor give 54,943 % contribution to the construct of SDQ.

PENGEMBANGAN INSTRUMEN PENILAIAN SIKAP ILMIAH SAINS SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR (SD) BERBASIS PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER

This study aims to develop scientific science attitudes assessment instruments that can be used in elementary school-based values of character education. This research is a research development (R &amp; D) conducted for one year with preliminary study stage, product development, product trial and product dissemination developed. A preliminary study was conducted by surveying the implementation of the science assessment in primary school. The preliminary study results show that teachers in 10 surveyed schools have never implemented a scientific attitude assessment in science learning. At the stage of product development, has developed a scientific attitude assessment instrument that has been validated by experts. The product trials were conducted in three stages: initial field test, main field test and field operational test. In the initial field test, it was conducted in two schools with 20 respondents in each class. Initial field test results show that the instrument reliability level is good, but there are still some invalid items that are 11 items in class IV, 8 items in class V and 7 items in class VI. This is because there are still some respondents who have not read smoothly so that they have difficulty in answering questions. In the main field test, it was conducted in 8 schools with 91 respondents. The main field test result is that there are 5 invalid questions, both in class IV, V and VI. Operational field tests were carried out with the number of respondents each 13 students from 10 schools. Field operational test results are all items declared valid and reliable. The last stage is to disseminate products through scientific forums such as seminars and socialization to schools. The scientific attitude instruments developed in this study can be used by elementary teachers to assess the scientific attitudes of elementary students.

Parental non-response and students' test scores

Using Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) data, we show that parental non-response on a survey is negatively and significantly associated with children's test scores after controlling for the usual determinants of educational achievement. A one-standard-deviation increase in the proportion of parental non-responses decreases their children's scores by an average of 7.2 PISA points. Considering the incidence of non-response, we find that children with parents who had at least one missing or invalid item on the questionnaire scored 11.14 PISA points lower on average than children whose parents answered all of the survey questions. We present parents' personality, in particular conscientiousness, as a prominent candidate to explain our results.

Pengembangan Instrumen Penilaian Afektif untuk Mengukur Sikap Siswa Terhadap Nilai atau Norma yang Berhubungan dengan Materi Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia

The aim of this research is to develop an instrument for affective assessment to measure students’ attitude on norms and values in the concept of Indonesian’s biological diversity. A developmental research was conducted from February to March 2015. The results showed that from 60 items of affective instruments of modified likert scale which was designed by the researcher and then validated by 3 experts’ lecturers, It was found that there were 44 triable instruments. From 44 items that have been tried out to 272 respondents, there were only 12 invalid items with the coefficient of correlation was ≤ 0.3. The reliability of the item was 0.868 which was categorized as good. After the next trial, 32 items of instrument were tried out to 100 respondents to measure students’ attitudes. It was found that the average of students’ attitude was 103.97 which was considered as having positive attitudes. It can be concluded that the quality of developed-likert scale item instrument for assessing affective domain has been valid and reliable. It has fulfilled the criteria of a good tool to assess attitude domain.

Analyzing the perception of Chinese melodic imagery and its application to automated composition

This study investigated the influence of two music elements, mode and rhythm, on melodic imagery. By modulating different parameters of mode and rhythm, this study produced various melody samples. Kansei engineering was adopted as a research method for designing the experimental process. A set of music assessment rules was established by regularizing the existing modes and rhythms and analyzing and comparing their differences. The results were applied to automated composition in order to develop a comprehensive automated composition system. Before the hearing experiment, 39 adjective pairs were selected for the survey of melodic imagery by reviewing literature and engaging in discussions with experts. A Markov chain was adopted for analyzing the current modal music to establish a Markov switching table for the Chinese pentatonic scale, and metrical complexity was used for generating rhythms. Finally, 30 music samples were produced using the automated composition system by applying the various combinations of modes and rhythms. The hearing experiment was conducted on 35 participants for examining their perception of melodic imagery. Item analysis and a reliability test were performed on the experimental data for eliminating invalid samples and items. Thus, 14 adjective pairs with a Cronbach's ? of 0.887 were obtained, indicating favorable reliability. In addition, this study involved conducting factor analysis and extracting three imagery factors, namely passionate---apathetic, beautiful---ugly, and romantic---rigid. Subsequently, multivariate analysis of variance was conducted in this study for determining the relationship between modes and metrical complexity and the 14 adjective pairs, and the estimated means were calculated. Multidimensional scaling was adopted for producing a two-dimensional perceptual map for the construction of a database. The experimental results of this study showed that modes and rhythms in music can effectively help musicians or computer composition systems compose melodies that create various perceptual imageries.

ANALISIS BUTIR SOAL KONSEP DASAR IPA 1 MELALUI PENGGUNAAN PROGRAM KOMPUTER ANATES VERSI 4.0 FOR WINDOWS

This research was qualitative research with descriptive method. Subject was student teachers who took Fundamental Science 1. Based on validity analysis of item on 1 % significance level, there were 16 valid items, 26 valid ietms for 5 % significance level, and 14 invalid items. Then, analysis of distinguishing items, the item number 20 was very worst, 15 items were poor, other 15 item were fair and the other items were good. Meanwhile, analysis of level of difficulty, 17 item were very easy, 9 items were easy, 11 items were moderate, an item was difficult, and the others were very difficult. Analysis for whole items, there were only 21 items that were ready to be used, 5 items were needed to be revised, and the others could not be used in a testKey words : Konsep Dasar IPA 1, validity, distinguishing items, level of difficulity

An international road map to improve pain assessment in people with impaired cognition: the development of the Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition (PAIC) meta-tool.

BackgroundPain is common in people with dementia, yet identification is challenging. A number of pain assessment tools exist, utilizing observation of pain-related behaviours, vocalizations and facial expressions. Whilst they have been developed robustly, these often lack sufficient evidence of psychometric properties, like reliability, face and construct validity, responsiveness and usability, and are not internationally implemented. The EU-COST initiative “Pain in impaired cognition, especially dementia” aims to combine the expertise of clinicians and researchers to address this important issue by building on previous research in the area, identifying existing pain assessment tools for dementia, and developing consensus for items for a new universal meta-tool for use in research and clinical settings. This paper reports on the initial phase of this collaboration task.MethodsAll existing observational pain behaviour tools were identified and elements categorised using a three-step reduction process. Selection and refinement of items for the draft Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition (PAIC) meta-tool was achieved through scrutiny of the evidence, consensus of expert opinion, frequency of use and alignment with the American Geriatric Society guidelines. The main aim of this process was to identify key items with potential empirical, rather than theoretical value to take forward for testing.Results12 eligible assessment tools were identified, and pain items categorised according to behaviour, facial expression and vocalisation according to the AGS guidelines (Domains 1 – 3). This has been refined to create the PAIC meta-tool for validation and further refinement. A decision was made to create a supporting comprehensive toolkit to support the core assessment tool to provide additional resources for the assessment of overlapping symptoms in dementia, including AGS domains four to six, identification of specific types of pain and assessment of duration and location of pain.ConclusionsThis multidisciplinary, cross-cultural initiative has created a draft meta-tool for capturing pain behaviour to be used across languages and culture, based on the most promising items used in existing tools. The draft PAIC meta-tool will now be taken forward for evaluation according to COSMIN guidelines and the EU-COST protocol in order to exclude invalid items, refine included items and optimise the meta-tool.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-014-0229-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hubungan Antara Citra Raga dengan Persepsi Terhadap Produktivitas Sales Promotion Girls Kosmetik Kecantikan di Kota Denpasar

The increasing sales of cosmetics beauty products make the product marketing technique expanding and many sales promotion girl are employed to be important part in promoting women beauty product. Attractive physical appearance in sales promotion girls will draw consumer attention to them. Physical appearance itself correlates with body image in sales promotion girls. According Konstanski (2007) body image will be affected to self confidence. Self confidence makes a person develop self-evaluation. The self-evaluation will shape perceptions of productivity. According to that, researcher wants to find relationship between body image and perception of productivity in sales promotion girls of beauty product in Denpasar City. Method in this research is correlational study. Subjects in this research are 110 sales promotion girls in Denpasar City. Data are collected by body image scale and perception of productivity scale. Test of item validity in body image scale shows there are 27 invalid items and 23 valid items from 50 items, and its reliability coefficient is 0,829. Test of item validity in perception of productivity scale shows there are 2 invalid items and 23 valid items from 25 items, and its reliability coefficient is 0,838. Data analysis shows data are normal and linear. Pearson’s product moment is run for data analysis. Coefficient of correlation between body image and productivity is 0,49 in significance level 0,05. It means that hypothesis in this research that states there is relationship between body image and perception of productivity in sales promotion girls of beauty product in Denpasar City is accepted. Keyword: body image, perception of productivity, sales promotion girls

Perbedaan agresivitas pada anak usia dini yang dibacakan dongeng dengan yang tidak dibacakan dongeng sebelum tidur oleh ibu

Aim of this research is to know about difference of aggression in young children that get fairytales reading and in young children that don’t get fairytales reading before sleep from their mother. Aggression has been a problem many people talk about, especially about its cause, or its intervention. Every people has aggression, including young children. People believe that young children’s aggression isn’t dangerous, so they only focus doing interventions in adult or adolescence aggression and disregard interventions in childhood aggression. Actually, it’s better to do intervention in young children, for it prevents long term negative impact of aggression. One of the interventions in controlling aggression is read fairytales to children. Fairytales give children good impacts that related to the aggression’s causes. Fairytales-reading is familiar thing in Indonesian culture. According to that, researcher formulates a research’s problem, that is, is there difference of aggression in young children that get fairytales reading and in young children that don’t get fairytales reading before sleep from their mother.&#x0D; Research’s subjects are 92 mothers of young children from kindergartens in Denpasar. Research’s method is comparation research. Data are collected by questionnaire (aggression scale and fairytale reading’s categorization). Validity test of aggression scale find 6 invalid items and 68 valid items from 74 items, with reliability coefficient’s score is 0,989. Data are analyzed with independent sample t-test. Data analysis’s result shows that data are normal and homogen. Score of significant in t-test is 0,000 (p=0,05). It means that research’s hypothesis who state there is difference of aggression in young children that get fairytales reading and in young children that don’t get fairytales reading before sleep from their mother, is accepted. Categorization of aggression’s score shows that children who receive fairytales reading have lower score than children who don’t receive fairytales reading.&#x0D; Keywords: aggression, fairytales, early childhood, mother

Hubungan Antara Dukungan Sosial Keluarga dengan Penerimaan Diri Individu yang Mengalami Asma

Asthma is an inflammatory disease caused by narrowing of the respiratory tract. This disease can not be cured but its relapse can be controled. It will provide physiological and psychological impact to individual with asthma. That individual hardly tends to accept his or her self when diagnosed with chronic disease. Family social support will be needed to cope with the hard situation faced by individual with asthma. According to that, researcher formulates the problem, is there relationship between family social support and self acceptance of individuals with asthma. This research uses quantitative approach with correlation method. Samples in this research are 105 people suffer from asthma in Sanjiwani Hospital, Gianyar, who were chosen by systematic random sampling. The data are collected by questionnaire. Validity test of items of the family social support questionnaire shows there are 5 invalid items and 27 valid items from 32 items, and its reliability coefficient is 0,896. Validity test of items of the self acceptance questionnaire shows there are 12 invalid items and 30 valid items from 42 items, and its reliability coefficient is 0,899. Data analysis by Pearson’s product moment. Found coefficient correlation in this research is 0,687 with p value 0,000. Thus, there is positive relationship between family social support and self acceptance of individuals with ashtma. Keywords: family social support, self acceptance

Development and Validation of Leadership Skill Assessment Scale for Secondary School Principals

This study was designed to develop and validate principals’ Leadership Skill Assessment Scale. It is an instrumentation study. The sample for the study comprised all the secondary school principals in Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study. Data were collected using a draft copy of the Principals Leadership Skill Assessment Scale. The data were subjected to construct validation using factor analysis with varimax rotation and Cronbach Alpha(α). Results of data analysis reveal that out of the thirty six items subjected to construct validation, only thirty-one items had a minimum loading of up to 0.35 (acceptance level for factor loading according to Menedith, 1969) on the six factors extracted. Five items did not attain the minimum loading on any of the six factors. One item was loaded on factors 3 and 4 and was considered factorially complex and was discarded along side the other five items that did not attain the minimum loading of 0.35 on any of the six factors. Result of factor analysis also reveals that some factors have fewer than four items loaded on them. Because it is not easy to explain such factors, the four items were also discarded. Out of the thirty six items, a total of ten items (items 14, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34 and 36) were dropped as invalid items. Test of internal consistency for the surviving twenty-six items reveal that the instrument has an internal consistency index of 0.958. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that measurement of principals leadership skill should constitute a regular practice of the Post Primary Schools Management Board especially now that a valid and reliable instrument for the exercise has been developed. The researcher further recommends that researchers in the field of leadership should adopt this instrument in situations that require a clear assessment of principals’ leadership skills. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n5p9

Translation and validation of ‘The Knee Society Clinical Rating System’ into Spanish

The Knee Society Clinical Rating System (KSS) is a questionnaire evaluating knee function itself and the patient's ability to walk and climb stairs. The aim of our study is to present the validated translation of KSS into Spanish. The validated method of translation-retrotranslation was used to translate KSS into Spanish. Three hundred and sixteen patients undergoing primary knee arthroplasty, before surgery and 6 months postoperative, completed the questionnaire (with an orthopedist's help). Psychometric properties of feasibility (percentage of no answers), validity and sensitivity to change (test's ability to detect change in patients' functional status over time) were assessed. In the second part of the study, the translated version of KSS was compared with two already validated questionnaires (SF-36 and WOMAC). During the translation process, item 3 (ROM) presented low appropriateness and null comprehensibility. The alternative writing proposed was 'for every 5°, we sum up 1 point, as if 8° were 1 point, to obtain the maximum scoring of 25 points you should bend more than 200°'. Feasibility: the item 'malalignment' obtained 15 % of missing item at visit 1. The percentage of invalid items was high in both visits (60 and 47 %). the coefficients of convergent correlation with WOMAC and SF-36 scales confirm the questionnaire's validity. Sensitivity to change: significant differences were found in all cases between the mean scores comparing both visits. The translated version 1.1 of KSS (final version) has shown to be feasible, valid and sensible to changes within the clinical practice of patients undergoing primary knees arthroplasty.

Interactions between Temporal Lobe Signs, Imaginings, Beliefs and Gender: Their Effect upon Logical Inference

Rotton's Paralogic Test, Wilson-Barber's Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI) and the PPI (Personal Philosophy Inventory) were administered to 100 male and 100 female university students. Both sexes displayed moderately strong (0.50) correlations between content-selected and factor analyzed clusters of possible temporal lobe signs, exotic beliefs and the numbers of childhood imaginings. Although there were no sex differences between the accuracy of logical statements that contained paranormal or neutral content, males who displayed more temporal lobe signs were more accurate for logical items that contained paranormal content. Females who displayed more imaginings were more accurate for valid than for invalid items. Accuracy for items with paranormal content increased with exotic beliefs but not with conservative religious beliefs for both sexes. The relationship between exotic beliefs and accuracy for items with paranormal content was especially strong for females. These results suggest: 1) gender differences in the neurocognitive processes that contribute to logical problem solving and 2) accuracy may depend upon the degree to which the subject matter is commensurate with the person's history of enhanced temporal lobe signs, capacity for fantasy and imaginings and beliefs in exotic concepts.

An APL system for interactive data analysis: Histograms, correlation, and regression

This report describes an APL system for file-oriented univariate analysis, correlation, and regression analysis. The correlation and regression processes permit analyses of an unlimited number of cases, if the cases are arranged in tables small enough to be processed one at a time in a workspace. Support functions are also given for a menu-based processing system designed to support a broad range of analyses. The functions offer features such as subset selection, data transformation, and exclusion of invalid items.