Paper Pencil Research Articles

Learning experiences of mobile social media

In this paper, we describe how a mobile social video application (MoViE) was used to teach HCI concepts. The aims of the study were to study the success factors of mobile video blogging and future expectations of mobile video blogging in education. The learning activities in this experiment were analysed using the shared experience and activity framework. The results indicated that video blogging could be an effective method in HCI education. The students experienced social video services as useful learning tools. Mobile video blogging turned out to be a much more effective method of evaluating the students' level of understanding than traditional paper pencil tests.

Evaluation of the quality of early childhood classrooms in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of two types of Turkish early childhood education programs: private and public preschools.1 Three public and three private preschools in a district of Istanbul were randomly selected. The quality of preschools was assessed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale developed by Harms et al. The preschools were visited by the researcher and were observed for a nine‐hour school day. Observations indicate that activities such as daily routines, parent–teacher interactions, personal and professional needs are more appropriately handled by private preschool teachers than public preschool teachers. Shortcomings exist in both types of preschools in their physical class arrangements, authoritarian teacher child interactions, poor teacher–student ratio, and emphasis on structured and paper–pencil activities. Results suggest the need for Turkish preschool programs to be more child and family centered.

Development and validation of a Q-sort measure of identity processing style: The identity processing style Q-sort

Identity styles represent strategies individuals use to explore identity-related issues. Berzonsky (Berzonsky, M. D. (1992). Identity style and coping strategies. Journal of Personality, 60, 771–788) identified three styles: informational, normative, and diffuse. In three studies, this paper presents (a) the identity processing style Q-sort (IPSQ), a new measurement technique for assessing identity styles, along with the reliability and validity of three criterion sorts that represent “ideal types” for the three respective styles, (b) a description of the styles in a sample of 480 college students along with direct comparisons with the paper–pencil measure of identity styles originally developed by Berzonsky, and (c) an examination of convergent and discriminant validity of the IPSQ in a sample of 321 college students based on correlations with measures tapping identity status, family relationship quality, social competence, coping styles, and social desirability. The general discussion concludes that the reliability and validity of the sort are supported and future directions and potential uses are described.

Test–retest reliability of a group-administered paper–pencil measure of delay discounting.

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of an easily administered paper-pencil temporal discounting task modeled loosely on the hypothetical money choice task (Rachlin, Raineri, & Cross, 1991). Our group-administered task used 2 descriptions of discounting, the slope constant (k) of the hyperbolic function V = A/(1 + kD) and the area under the curve (AUC). The task was initially administered to 387 (163 men, 188 women, and 35 unspecified gender) introductory psychology students in groups ranging in size from 15 to 45. Six weeks later, 299 students (131 men and 168 women) repeated the task in groups ranging from 15 to 30. At each test time, the data from participants who met specified discounting criteria (about 85%) were fit well with the hyperbolic function (mean r(2) = .90). The test-retest correlation for logk was r = .64; for AUC scores, it was r = .70, with a correlation of r = -.96 between logk and AUC scores at Test 1. The (dislike for) Cognitive Complexity and Cognitive Instability subscales of the Barratt Impulsivity Scales, Version 11, administered only at the retest correlated with k values (r = .20, p = .001, and r = .179, p = .003), and women discounted more than men (p < .001) at both test times. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of the procedure and a detailed comparison of k and AUC measures of discounting.

Phonemic Awareness Skill of Speech-Language Pathologists and Other Educators

Educators rely on sufficient knowledge and skill to provide effective phonemic awareness instruction, an important component of early literacy instruction, particularly for children who experience difficulty learning to read. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the phonemic awareness skill of several groups of educators, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs; n = 160), kindergarten teachers (n = 109), first-grade teachers (n = 112), reading teachers (n = 100), and special education teachers (n = 60). Participants completed a paper-pencil measure of phonemic awareness skill that included 3 tasks. The measure was designed to assess sophisticated explicit phonemic awareness skill within a print context, representing an advanced skill level that has been deemed critical to teaching. SLPs demonstrated superior performance on the measure of phonemic awareness skill when compared to other educators (d = 1.54). The performance of reading and special education teachers was comparable to that of kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Orthographic knowledge had an adverse impact on the performance of all groups. However, SLPs were far more proficient than other educators at segmenting words that had a complex relationship between speech and print (e.g., box, use). SLPs have relative expertise in phonemic awareness, yet their performance may not be proficient. Three recommendations are discussed: (a) Increase the phonemic awareness skill of all educators, (b) revise instructional materials to enhance educators' efforts to provide accurate and effective phonemic awareness instruction, and (c) include SLPs as members of the team responsible for phonemic awareness instruction and intervention.

A case of broomstick in the root canal extending beyond the apex causing epistaxis

There have been several reports describing the placement, by patients of foreign objects in to the exposed pulp chambers and canals. Foreign objects inserted in the canal have varied from radiolucent objects like wooden tooth picks or tooth brush bristles to radiopaque materials like paper pins, needles and pencil leads. In this present case a 13 year old boy reported at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Preventive Dentistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a 6 year history of trauma to the upper anterior teeth. There was bleeding from the nose, painful labial swelling, and discharging sinus around the maxillary right permanent central incisor for 4 days. A periapical radiograph did not show presence of a foreign object in root canal of the fractured discoloured right maxillary central incisor. The patient denied inserting any object in the canal. The tooth was extracted and a broomstick extending by 12mm beyond the apex of the tooth and bleeding from the nose was observed. A case of a unique foreign object in the pulp chamber projecting beyond the apical foramen and resulting in epistaxis is reported. The importance of early treatment of fractured teeth in children is stressed to prevent complications. Keywords : Broomstick, root canal, epistaxis Nigerian Dental Journal Vol. 15 (1) 2007: pp. 39-42

Predicting adolescent suicidality: Comparing multiple informants and assessment techniques

Adolescent suicidality is a serious problem among American youth. Common risk factors for adolescent suicidality include depression and conduct problems but there is little agreement on the best means to assess these factors. We compared multiple informants (mothers, fathers, the adolescent and a sibling) and multiple assessment techniques using a sample of more than 460 families. Assessment techniques included paper–pencil instruments, observer ratings, and diagnostic interviews. Suicidality was assessed concurrently and two years after the risk assessment. Adolescent-reported paper–pencil instruments and diagnostic interviews were strongly associated with concurrent and future suicidality. Parents' report of adolescent feelings and behaviors were also useful. Observed behaviors were not useful in assessing suicidality risk factors. Clinical recommendations include utilizing paper–pencil and diagnostic adolescent risk factor assessment and focusing on emotions.

Self-assessments of patients via Tablet PC in routine patient care: comparison with standardised paper questionnaires

Objective:We evaluated the feasibility of electronic data capture of self-administered patient questionnaires using a Tablet PC for integration in routine patient management; we also compared these data with results received...

Heart rate variability and daytime functioning in insomniacs and normal sleepers: Preliminary results

Objectives This study examined the differences in heart rate variability (HRV) and daytime functioning between insomniacs and normal sleepers. Methods All participants underwent an interview, a medical examination, and a sleep measurement protocol during which they wore an actigraph and logged a sleep diary for a 7-day period to verify their eligibility. Included in the study were 18 insomniacs and 21 normal sleepers. During a laboratory session, these participants completed four paper–pencil tests of sleepiness, anxiety, fatigue, and concentration difficulty and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Resting HRV was recorded under paced breathing. Results Neither did insomniacs experience cognitive impairment nor did they experience excessive daytime sleepiness compared with normal sleepers. However, insomniacs experienced higher frequency of fatigue [effect size (ES)=1.14, P=.002] compared with normal sleepers. There was also a trend toward higher trait anxiety score (ES=0.62) and concentration difficulty (ES=0.59) in insomniacs than in normal sleepers. Although a tendency toward lower resting high- frequency (HF) HRV (ES=−0.57) in insomniacs than in normal sleepers was noted, neither the resting low-frequency (LF) HRV nor the LF/HF ratio were different between groups. Subjective sleep estimates correlated to self-reported daytime consequences such as fatigue and concentration difficulty but not cognitive function. On the contrary, objective sleep estimates correlated to problem-solving/conceptualization and learning but not self-reported daytime consequences. Conclusions Insomniacs are not sleepier during the day than normal sleepers. However, they may experience such a daytime symptom as fatigue although cognitive function remains unimpaired.

How Do We Help Students Build Beliefs That Allow Them to Avoid Critical Learning Barriers and Develop A Deep Understanding of Geology?

Students hold a surprising number of ideas about the Earth’s structure and process. This paper begins with a discussion on the nature of understanding in the conceptually confined domain of geosciences. There then follows a report on a study of the ideas about a range of concepts relating to “crystals”, “volcanoes”, “rocks”, and the “Earth”, held by eighth-grade students (13-14 years) in one middle school. Such patterns, described here as “alternative frameworks”, can be used to inform our understanding of students’ learning in earth science. If these alternative frameworks are not taken into consideration, they can represent “critical barriers” to learning in this domain in addition to other barriers identified in this research. The aim of this paper is to relate the students’ alternative frameworks, the “critical barriers” that have been spotted and the possibilities of overcoming them. Several different recruitment strategies were used to collect data in order to get to know the students’ alternative frameworks. The methodology of this study is based on two researches: a test of the Q-Sort and a paper–pencil test. Based on the results, some suggestions to help teachers and students avoid critical barriers that may be difficult to overcome later in their geological education are presented.

Identifying Prepared and Competent Teachers with Professional Knowledge Tests

Paper–pencil teacher tests of professional knowledge typically are organized around the conventional dimensions that define state teaching standards, such as classroom management and assessment. We examined if such tests could be partitioned into three other dimensions (general knowledge, academic or textbook knowledge, and functional teaching knowledge), and if these dimensions (1) identified between those who did and did not receive teacher preparation, and (2) predicted teaching competence. A teacher test was given to advanced and beginning education majors, and non-majors. We found that advanced education majors and non-majors differed mostly on academic knowledge, but that functional knowledge predicted competence to the greatest extent. A variety of useful information can be gleaned from teacher tests if subscores of these dimensions are generated.

The impact of computer versus paper–pencil survey, and individual versus group administration, on self-reports of sensitive behaviors

The purpose of this study was to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of both computer based and paper–pencil methods of sensitive data collection in various administrative settings. A total of 180 students signed-up for optional course-credit and were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire using either a paper–pencil, or a computer based method, and in one of the following administration settings: group, alone in a designated office, or being emailed/mailed the information and filling it out when/where they pleased. Results show that perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality were strongly correlated with self-reported accuracy. However, although perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality differed by condition, this had no statistically significant impact on responses. Though perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality differ between methods, neither method appears to be superior in the context of overall response bias.

Suitable stimuli to obtain (no) gender differences in the speed of cognitive processes involved in mental rotation

Gender differences in speed of perceptual comparison, of picture-plane mental rotation, and in switching costs between trials that do and do not require mental rotation, were investigated as a function of stimulus material with a total sample size of N = 360. Alphanumeric characters, PMA symbols, animal drawings, polygons and 3D cube figures were used with an otherwise completely equivalent experimental design in which age and speed-based IQ were comparable across male and female groups. Small gender-related differences in speed of perceptual comparison were found with the magnitude as well as the direction depending upon the stimulus material. Polygons were the only material that produced substantial and reliable gender differences in mental rotation speed, and additionally revealed gender differences in switching costs. Thus, whereas gender differences in paper–pencil mental rotation tests constitute an empirical reality, the generalization that men outperform women in the speed of mental rotation was not supported in the present experiment.

Daily health status registration (patient diary) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A comparison between personal digital assistant and paper‐pencil format

The patient perspective workshops at the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials have included daily measures of health status (patient diary) and use of electronic tools for data collection in the research agenda. The objective of this study was to compare daily and weekly registrations of self-reported health status measures between personal digital assistant (PDA) and paper-pencil (PP) format regarding scores, variation, and feasibility. Thirty-eight patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis recorded their health status during 84 days in a repeated crossover design, using PDA or PP format during four 21-day periods. Visual analog scales (VAS) for pain, fatigue, and global disease and the Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index were scored daily; the Short Form 36 and Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire were scored weekly. The average scores and measures of variation of the 4 daily health status measures over 21 days did not differ significantly between PDA and PP formats in either of the 2 crossover periods. The values for the average range between the maximum and minimum values for daily measures were similar between the 2 formats, but showed considerable variation (e.g., range for pain VAS was 19-28 mm over each 21-day period). The time to complete the instruments was similar between the 2 formats. Missing daily data entries were generally low for both periods and somewhat higher for PDA. The majority of patients (82.9%) preferred using PDA. Daily assessments with PDA may be efficiently used for frequent data collection because this format performs similarly to the traditional PP format.

Attachment, sense of coherence, and mental health among Chinese American college students: Variation by migration status

Informed by Antonovksy's salutogenic model, the current study examined sense of coherence as a mediator in the relationship of parent and peer attachment and college challenges with depressive symptom level in three groups of Chinese American college students. Due to differential acculturation, we hypothesized that peer relationship would be more salient for the most acculturated American-born Chinese, parent relationship would be more salient for the least acculturated, late arriving immigrants, and both parent and peer attachment would contribute to the well-being of early arriving immigrants who have been significantly exposed to both cultures. A sample of 112 American-born Chinese, 121 early immigrants, and 110 late immigrants completed paper–pencil surveys. Sense of coherence mediated the effect of attachment and college challenges on depressive symptoms in all three groups. Furthermore, our hypotheses regarding American-born Chinese and early immigrants were supported. For late immigrants, both parent and peer attachment predicted sense of coherence, but only parent attachment contributed to depressive symptom level. Implications for mental health interventions are discussed.

The ABCs of computerized naming: Equivalency, reliability, and predictive validity of a computerized rapid automatized naming (RAN) task

Population-based studies indicate dual routes to disabled reading in adolescence and adulthood: slowed acquisition of single word reading and ADHD (particularly inattention) in early childhood. Impairments in rapid serial naming may be a factor common to both problems. The gold-standard measure of this ability, the Rapid Automatized Naming Task (RAN; [Denckla MB, Rudel R. Rapid automatized naming of pictured objects, colors, letters and numbers by normal children. Cortex 1974;10:186–202]), has traditionally been administered in a paper–pencil format. Recently however, researchers [Neuhaus GF, Carlson CD, Jeng WM, Post Y, Swank PR. The reliability and validity of rapid automatized scoring software ratings for the determination of pause and articulation component durations. Educ Psychol Meas 2001;61:490–504] have begun to use computerized versions of the RAN. Here a slightly modified computerized version of the RAN was created and the equivalency between the computerized RAN and the conventional version was investigated using a university student sample. Naming times on the conventional and computerized RAN were highly correlated, overall, and for each of the four RAN stimulus types (letters, digit, colors, objects). Conventional and computerized RAN times predicted reading rate and reading comprehension scores equally well and both showed very high test–retest reliability. With our university student sample, findings indicate equivalency between the two testing mediums in all areas examined.

Mental Genesis of Scripts in Adolescents With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Twenty nine ADHD adolescents and 29 age, IQ and gender matched normal comparison subjects completed 6 paper pencil tasks of mental script generation. Each task required the subject to generate 10 chronologically ordered and necessary actions toward a goal. There were 3 levels of structure of the tasks (highly structured, moderately structured, unstructured) and each of these levels comprised a familiar and an unfamiliar script. The ADHD group made more sequencing errors on all the scripts, significantly so on the highly structured unfamiliar and on the moderately structured unfamiliar script tasks. The two groups were similar however with regard to the semantic structure (content) of the scripts and the total number of actions generated. Errors of omission, commission and perseveration were similar for the two groups. The results are interpreted as supportive of Barkley's (1997) frontal lobe dysfunction model of ADHD.

The Halton District School Board Focus: Assessing for Learning

Teachers have been asked to make significant changes in their classroom assessment practices over the last few years. Prior to secondary school reform, most teachers' past experiences and learning focused on norm referenced evaluation that was communicated by a percentage grade on the report card. Throughout the course, students' efforts and achievement in relationship to paper pencil tasks were recorded, averaged and calculated to determine the final grade.

Examining gender, racial, and age differences in weight concern among third, fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders

Weight management and concern, body weight beliefs, and perceptions of friend's and family's weight concerns were examined in this study by race, grade, and gender. A stratified random sample was used to select schools within nine districts in South Carolina and an anonymous self-report paper–pencil questionnaire was completed by the students. The final sample included 3151 African American (42.3%) and White (57.7%) children (51.7% female) in the third ( n=599), fifth ( n=686), eighth ( n=1168), and eleventh ( n=698) grades. White girls were more likely to report being overweight ( P=.0042), having higher personal weight concerns ( P<.0001), and perceiving higher friend ( P<.0001) and family weight concerns ( P<.0001) than the African American girls. Using multiple regression, 29.8% of the variance in the children's personal weight concern scores was explained by perceptions of family's weight concerns ( R 2=.1659), gender ( R 2=.0762), perceptions of friend's weight concerns ( R 2=.0392), grade ( R 2=.0094), a Race×Gender interaction ( R 2=.0042), and race ( R 2=.003). Most of the children, particularly the white girls, have personal weight concerns and dieting practices which place them at risk for possible health problems. These results support the need for nutrition interventions and education in early childhood. Programs to prevent obesity and eating disorders should be tailored for differences by gender, grade, and race.

Comparison of commonly used orthopaedic outcome measures using palm-top computers and paper surveys

Introduction: Measuring patient-perceived outcomes following orthopaedic procedures have become an important component of clinical research and patient care. General and disease-specific outcomes measures have been developed and applied in orthopaedics to assess the patients’ perceived health status. Unfortunately, paper-based, self-administered instruments remain inefficient for collecting data because of: (a) missing data (b) respondent error, and (c) the costs to administer and enter data. Objective: To study the comparability of palm-top computer devices and paper–pencil self-administered questionnaires in the collection of health-related quality of life (HRQL) information from patients. Methods: The comparability of administering HRQL questionnaires using palm-top computer and traditional paper-based forms was tested in a sample of 96 patients with complaints of hip and/or knee pain. Each patient completed mailed versions of the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), and Western Ontario and McMasters University Arthritis Index (WOMAC) three weeks prior to presenting to clinic. At the clinic they were asked to complete the same outcomes measures using the palm-top computer or a paper-and-pencil version. Analysis: In the analysis, scale distributions, floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency and retest reliability of scales were compared across the two data collection methods. Because the baseline characteristics of the groups were not strictly comparable according to age, the data were analyzed for the entire sample and stratified according to age. Results: Few statistically significant differences were found for the means, variances and intra-class correlation coefficients between the methods of administration. While the scale distribution between the two methods was comparable, the internal consistency of the scales was dissimilar. Conclusions: Administration of HRQL questionnaires using portable palm-top computer devices has the potential advantage of decreased cost and convenience. These data lend some support for the comparability of palm-top computers and paper surveys for outcomes measures widely used in the field of orthopaedic surgery. The present study identified the lack of reliability across modes of administration that requires further study in a randomized comparability trial. These mode effects are important for orthopaedic surgeons to appreciate before implementing innovative data-capture technologies in their practices.