Procedural Flaws Research Articles

Letter identification declines with increasing retinal eccentricity at the same rate for normal and dyslexic readers

It has recently been claimed (Geiger & Lettvin, 1987; Perry, Dember, Warm, & Sacks, 1989) that the acuity/eccentricity function is flatter in dyslexics than in normal subjects, with dyslexics showing better performance in the periphery and worse performance at fixation. In these studies, all target letters were presented to the right of fixation, a procedural flaw inviting subjects to optimize performance by directing attention and/or gaze to the right of the designated fixation point. It is suggested that dyslexic and normal readers may differ in the degree to which they might adopt the optimal strategy in this situation. To overcome this problem, target letters were briefly presented at 16 randomly intermixed locations derived from the orthogonal combination of four eccentricities and four directions from fixation (above, below, right, left). The accuracy of letter identification declined with increasing eccentricity at the same rate for good and poor adult readers and dyslexic teenagers. This finding provides no support for the view that the acuity/eccentricity function might vary with and possibly cause differences in reading level.

Ten cases of eyewitness identification: Logical and procedural problems

Procedural aspects of identification tests constitute a useful area for expert testimony by experimental psychologists because experimental psychologists have the relevant expertise and because police investigators make numerous potentially fatal mistakes. This article outlines the dual purpose of identity testing: one test is supposed to prove simultaneously the guilt of a suspect and the reliability of the witnesses. This dual objective can be achieved only if the underlying logic is not disturbed by procedural flaws. Twelve of these flaws are discussed. Procedural flaws can be avoided through the adoption of a number of rules, as proposed by various bodies and authors. However, in practice such proposals are rarely followed, probably because the seriousness of procedural mistakes is not realized. Ten cases of disputed identity in which the authors acted as expert witnesses are presented. The cases are shown to have been severely undermined by procedural flaws that disrupted the evidentiary strength of the identifications, errors that could have been avoided, had stricter rules been adopted. It is argued that procedural rigidity will increase the discriminatory power of identity tests so that more innocent suspects are acquitted and more guilty suspects convicted. Until this objective has been achieved, it will remain useful for experimental psychologists to testify about identification procedures.

Populism and rent‐seeking in post‐apartheid South Africa

Abstract The Freedom Charter and the ANC's constitutional guidelines reveals that they rely upon a model of “populist democracy” which also justifies the status and policies of the National Party. Although ends differ, means for legitimising power are the same. A critique of “populist democracy”, based upon public choice theory, reveals procedural flaws and implementation failures of populist democracy. Having identified these problems, an alternative model is prescribed to serve as a constitutional framework. It is suggested that a set of rules be prescribed to constrain actions of the state rather than to seek “innovations” which prompt an enlarged political intrusion into the lives and livelihoods of citizens.

Potential Errors in Approximate Methods of Structural Analysis

A recurring procedural flaw exists in many textbook treatments of approximate methods for the analysis of rectangular, rigid frames under uniform vertical loading. The majority of textbooks surveyed cite an inappropriate assumption regarding the approximate analysis of vertically loaded frames which leads to erroneous solutions. One of the prevalent assumptions, which leads to incorrect shear forces and bending moments in columns, is that a negligible axial force exists in each girder. A more appropriate first-pass substitute might be to assume that inflection points occur in each column at mid-height, or at hinged supports of column bases at ground level. Using a simple, uniformly loaded, symmetric, rectangular frame as an example (this frame appears frequently in textbook examples), a trial revised set of assumptions produces an improved approximate solution. Work is proceeding to develop a fully tested, revised method of approximate structural analysis for vertically loaded rectangular frames.

A Model of Students' Decimal Computation Procedures

A model that describes the construction and execution of decimal computation procedures is presented. Our hypothesis is that students compute by relying solely on syntax-based rules; semantic knowledge has no effect on performance. To test the claim, a model is developed in which computation procedures are viewed as chains of component symbol manipulation rules. The model assumes that students acquire through instruction the individual rules that achieve subgoals in the computation process. The task for the procedural system is to select rules that satisfy each subgoal in sequence. The model specifies the rules of the system and identifies the syntactic features of the task that affect the selection of individual rules at each decision point. It then predicts the relative difficulty of decimal computation items and predicts the procedural flaw that will occur most frequently on each item. Written test and interview data are presented to test the predictions. Concluding comments discuss the nature of students' computation procedures, compare the model with other models of computation performance, and outline how the model might inform instruction. In this article, we present a model of how students compute with decimal numbers. The model consists of symbol manipulation rules that we believe are precisely the rules students acquire, store, and execute to compute with decimals. The purpose of the model is to describe the nature of students' computational skills and to demonstrate the extent to which students' computation performance is procedurally based. Our hypothesis is that by the time students reach upper elementary school their behavior on many mathematical tasks can be described in syntactic rather than semantic terms. Sufficient evidence has accumulated over the past 10 years to suggest that students' behavior on mathematical tasks changes in important ways as they

Language Training in the Everyday Environment: Teaching Functional Sign Use to a Retarded Child

The effects of an integrative language training model on the functional use of sign language by a developmentally retarded child were assessed with a multiple-baseline design across two activities. The integrative model was comprised of two language training strategies: delay and incidental teaching. During baseline, the experimenter initiated a 10-second delay during naturally occurring language opportunities to evoke sign initiations. The intervention phase involved the use of the delay followed by a modified incidental teaching procedure. Probes were administered to assess generalization across trainers and across novel opportunities. The results indicated that the intervention increased sign initiations relative to baseline and decreased prompts required. Sign initiations generalized to a second trainer and to novel language opportunities. A second experiment was undertaken to correct a procedural flaw that became apparent during Experiment 1. Rather than allowing the child to form incorrect signs pri...

PERSONALITY CORRELATES OF MACHIAVELLIANISM: IV. MACHIAVELLIANISM AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The few studies which have tested Christie's (1970) contention that “there should be little or no relationship between Machiavellian orientations and measures of psychopathology” (p.42) have been characterized by contradictory findings and procedural flaws. In the present investigation, High Machs and Non-Machs (as determined by the Mach V) did not differ significantly in their scores on Neuroticism and Psychoticism (Eysenck Personality Inventory), Depression (IPAT Depression Scale) Occupational, Health, Home, Social and Emotional Adjustment (Bell Adjustment Inventory), or any of the substantive scales of the MMPI, thereby providing support for the hypothesis that the Machiavellian is a psychologically stable individual.

Exact-finite-range distorted-wave Born-approximation and coupled-channel Born-approximation reaction calculations

The traditional formulation of the exact-finite-range calculation is demonstrated to have a procedural flaw which impeded unnecessarily the computational time. A revised method is shown to be in principle significantly more efficient than currently existing approaches. When the exact calculation is applied to the $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$($^{19}\mathrm{F}$, $^{16}\mathrm{O}$)$^{31}\mathrm{P}$ reaction, the spin-orbit potential predictions are found to disagree with recently published norecoil approximation analyses.NUCLEAR REACTION $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$($^{19}\mathrm{F}$, $^{16}\mathrm{O}$)$^{31}\mathrm{P}$, $E=60$ MeV; calculated $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\theta})$; full recoil; exact-finite-range spin-orbit DWBA and CCBA.

Comment on Lane and Messe's confusing clarification of equity theory.

The Lane and Messe study, which purports to have clarified key issues in equity theory, is critically reviewed. The Lane and Messe study attempts to assess the effect of internal standards of equity on the final distribution of rewards in a typical equity situation. In the present study, the issues surrounding a notion of internal standards are discussed, and Lane and Messe's hypotheses are clarified. Numerous methodological and procedural flaws render Lane and Messe's results ambiguous. While the notion of an internal standard of equity is deemed an attractive one, the Lane and Messe study sheds little light on this phenomenon. Equity theory has traditionally assumed that individuals evaluate the equitableness of a situation by comparing their relative outcomes with some other person's. Lane and Messe (1972) have taken a somewhat different view. They investigated the possibility that persons assess equity by first comparing their relative outcomes to an internal standard of fairness rather than to a comparison person. The purpose of the present article is to discuss the theoretical issues raised by Lane and Messe and to specify the methodological problems in their attempt to experimentally deal with those issues. The conclusion reached is that assessment of equity relative to an internal standard is an appealing idea, but, due to numerous methodological flaws in the Lane and Messe study, it still lacks empirical support. Before addressing the issues raised by Lane and Messe (1972), it is instructive to describe the social comparison model of equity theory originally formulated by Adams (1965). According to this model, an actor, Person, assesses the fairness of a situation by 1 During work on this article Austin was sup

A procedural critique of "Bender Gestalts of organic children: accuracy of clinical judgment".

Summary It is suggested that conclusions from a study by Wagner and Murray be tempered with respect to several procedural flaws: (a) their failure to include an appropriate control group for comparison with brain-injured Ss; and (b) failure to adequately describe the organic group. The results, therefore, cannot be taken as evidence for or against the use of the Bender Gestalt Test in differential diagnosis of brain-impaired children.

Serum Autoantibodies in Myasthenia Gravis and Thymoma: Selective Affinity for I-Bands of Striated Muscle As a Guide to Identification of Antigen(s)

Summary A panel of sera from 90 persons was studied with respect to sites of binding of γ-globulins to striated muscle in vitro. The indirect and direct fluorescent antibody techniques were employed and compared. Sera from 51 individuals including 47 selected patients with myasthenia gravis, when tested with the indirect technique, reacted consistently with skeletal muscle I-bands in cryostat sections and myofibril suspensions of bovine, human and rabbit origin in a titer range 1:120 to 1:1920. H-zone (M-line) staining was a frequent associated finding. Sera from 49 control individuals reacted with the same morphologic loci, within limits determinable by light microscopic techniques, in a titer range 1:15 to 1:30. Individual and pooled serum globulins from patients with myasthenia gravis, which had been conjugated directly with fluorescein isothiocyanate, also reacted with I-bands and H-zones in a titer range 1:40 to 1:80. Directly conjugated serum globulins from normal controls failed to produce striational staining. The pattern of staining seen with both indirect and direct fluorescent antibody techniques strongly resembles that produced upon treatment of striated muscle with fluorescent antibodies against purified actin and tropomyosin. The present findings strongly suggest that A-band and Z-line staining with human sera on a specific immunologic basis, as described or inferred in previous reports, is an uncommon effect, if indeed it occurs at all. It is more likely that previous descriptions or interpretations of A-band staining by sera from patients with myasthenia gravis can be explained on the basis of procedural flaws and limitations. The possible staining of narrow zones of A-bands immediately adjacent to stained I-bands cannot be totally excluded because of the limits of resolution of the fluorescent antibody technique.