Inquiry Strategies Research Articles

EFFECTIVENESS OF INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING TOWARDS MASTERING THE CONCEPT OF UNSATURATED HYDROCARBONS IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Inquiry learning can be applied to chemistry learning at any level of education. This is according to the characteristics of chemistry, which is based on empirical evidence for real-world study. One of the topics studied in Organic Chemistry Lecture is an unsaturated hydrocarbon that discussed the structure, nomenclature, properties, manufacture, and usability. There are various models or strategies of inquiry for chemistry learning, especially guided inquiry. One of the guided inquiry-based chemistry learning strategy innovations is the OE 3 R (Orientation - Exploration - Explanation - Elaboration - Reflection) strategy for various education levels, high schools, and universities. This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of guided inquiry-based learning with OE 3 R strategy in undergraduate students' conceptual understanding of the Unsaturated Hydrocarbon concept. The research using a Quasi Experiment with a pretest-posttest control group design. Conceptual understanding with OE 3 R Strategy proven to be better than Expository Strategy. This can be seen from achieving minimum completeness criteria, which is 92.3% for OE 3 R and 72.2% for expository. It can also be seen from the N-gain value for the OE 3 R Strategy (0.43), which is significantly better than the Expository Strategy (0.27).

KEY ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY OF IRRIGATION WATER MANAGEMENT, KHAMMOUANE DISTRICT, LAO PDR

This research aimed to study key elements of social enterprise management in irrigation water management in Khammouane Province through the use of constructivism and participatory action research. Moreover, strategies of inquiry and case study were also applied. Its 12 key Informants were selected by the author using purposive sampling method and divided into 3 following groups: 1) government officials and academicians involving the irrigation water management; 2) private business sector in agriculture; and 3) other related person and group of farmers in Khammouane Province. The data were collected through in-depth interviews along with data analysis by means of content and document analysis. The study results showed that the adoption of enterprise management concept according to business principles focusing on sustainable wealth creation for society should have contributory characteristics and elements for efficient irrigation water management, namely, participation in ownership, mutual help in community management, fair sharing, government support, innovation and competitiveness, enhancement of community’s role and strength; clear formulation of common policies, organizational vision, management under business principles focusing on promotion of social stability, collaborative learning, training, constant monitoring for evaluation, enforcement of rules and regulations to control water resource use and profit sharing in doing business to generate income for members. Besides, the relevant agencies needed to focus on and formulate policies for promotion and development of social enterprise in Lao PDR the achievement of both business operations and social impacts. This would pave the way to the sustainable development of economy, society and environment in Lao PDR.

Information-seeking strategy and likelihood of workplace health disclosure

PurposeThis study seeks to address the question on the role of information-seeking behavior in dealing with uncertainty on workplace health disclosure from the perspectives of internal communication.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with 409 full-time employees in large-sized companies in the United States.FindingsThe results showed that employees engage in proactive and passive information-seeking strategies when they are uncertain about their supervisors' reactions toward their health problems. Positive EOR and organizational climate would increase their intention to adopt inquiry strategy, whereas negative EOR and the climate would increase their intention to adopt monitoring strategy. Employees who adopt inquiry strategy tend to perceive the benefits of health disclosure, whereas those who adopt monitoring strategy tend to perceive the risks of health disclosure. If employees perceived increased benefits in terms of health disclosure, then they tend to disclose their health problems to their supervisors, and vice versa.Originality/valueThis study is among first to investigate workplace health disclosure decision-making from the perspectives of internal communication. These findings highlight the importance of excellent internal communications in employees' health disclosure decision-making process and support the proposition that proactive information-seeking is a strategy that contributes to uncertainty management in the workplace. This study also provides significant practical guidelines for corporate communication practitioners and leaders by establishing a safe and friendly environment where employees feel comfortable to disclose their health problems to supervisors.

فاعلیة استخدام استراتیجیة الاستقصاء فی تنمیة المهارات الادراکیة للأطفال من وجهه نظر معلمات الروضات الحکومیة The effectiveness of applying the inquiry learning on improving cognitive skills for children from the viewpoint of kindergarten teachers

هدف البحث إلى استخلاص قائمة بالمهارات الادراکية اللازمة لأطفال رياض الأطفال، وقياس فاعلية تطبيق استراتيجية التعلم بالاستقصاء في تنمية بعض المهارات الادراکية لدى أطفال الروضة من وجهه نظر معلمات رياض الأطفال الحکومية بمحافظة الخرج. أعد فريق البحث قائمة بالمهارات الادراکية اللازمة لأطفال رياض الأطفال، وکذلک قام الفريق بتصميم استبيان للمعلمات لقياس أثر استخدام استراتيجية التعلم بالاستقصاء على تنمية بعض المهارات الادراکية اللازمة لأطفال رياض الأطفال من وجهه نظر المعلمات. وتم استخدام المنهج الوصفي التحليلي والمنهج شبه التجريبي وتکونت عينة البحث من (69) معلمة بمدارس رياض الأطفال الحکومية بمحافظة الخرج. وتوصل البحث إلى أن التعلم باستخدام استراتيجية الاستقصاء کان له أثرا کبيرا وواضحا فى تنمية المهارات الادرکية - الادراک البصري والادراک السمعي وإدراک العلاقات والاتصال – عند أطفال الروضة من وجهه نظر المعلمات. وقد أوصى البحث بضرورة الاهتمام بمهارات الإدراک البصري والادراک السمعى ومهارات إدراک العلاقات والاتصال عند تخطيط برامج رياض الأطفال، وتضمينها ضمن الخطط الدراسية، وتخطيط برامج لمعلمات رياض الأطفال؛ تتضمن المهارات الادراکية المختلفة، وکيفية توظيفها مع أطفال الروضة. The research aimed at extract a list of cognitive skills that necessary for kindergarten children, and to measure the effect of applying the inquiry learning strategy on developing cognitive skills for children from the viewpoint of government kindergarten female teachers in AlKharj Governorate. The research team have prepared a list of cognitive skills for kindergarten children, and they have also designed a questionnaire for teachers to measure the effectivness of using the inquiry learning strategy on developing some cognitive skills necessary for kindergarten children from the viewpoint of the female teachers. The descriptive analytical approach and sime-experimental approach were used. The research sample consisted of (69) female teachers in governmental kindergarten schools in Al-Kharj governorate. The research has found that learning by inquiry strategy has had a significant and visible positive impact in developing cognitive skills - visual perception, auditory perception, and perception of relationships and communication - among children from the perspective of the female teachers

Developing information literacy skills in elementary students using the web-based Inquiry Strategies for the Information Society of the Twenty-First Century (ISIS-21)

This study was undertaken to learn about the impact of using the web-based Inquiry Strategies for the Information Society of the Twenty-First Century (ISIS-21), software developed by the authors, to improve the information literacy (IL) skills of late elementary students (10-12 years). Using a series of multi-media and learning strategies design principles, ISIS-21 was designed to be used in late elementary classrooms given the gap in children’s IL skills and the increasing importance for individuals to be critical consumers of information, particularly when using Internet-based environments. An exploratory, two-phase field trial was conducted in English schools in a central province of Canada. In both phases the research design was a one-group, pretest-posttest where data were collected from 150 students at the baseline and after the use of ISIS-21 for completion of an inquiry project. Teacher self-reports were also collected. The results were encouraging as we were able to establish the feasibility and importance of using ISIS-21 in classrooms to promote the development of IL skills in late elementary students.

SECURE DATA GROUP SHARING AND CONDITIONAL DISSEMINATION WITH MULTI-OWNER IN CLOUD COMPUTING

Secure inquiry methods cloud information permit an approved client to question information records of interest by submitting encoded question catchphrases to the cloud worker in a protection safeguarding way. In any case, practically speaking, the returned question results might be off base or deficient in the deceptive cloud climate. For instance, the cloud worker may interntionally exclude some certified outcomes to spare computational assets and correspondence overhead. Along these lines, a well-working secure inquiry framework ought to give a question results check instrument that permits the information client to confirm results. In this paper, we plan a protected, effectively coordinated, and fine-grained inquiry results confirmation system, by which, given a scrambled question results set, the inquiry client not exclusively can confirm the accuracy of every information document in the set yet additionally can additionally check the number of or which qualified information records in the set is deficient before unscrambling. The sheme is free coupling to concrete secure inquiry strategies and can be effectively integreated into any protected question plot. We accomplish the objective by building secure confirmation object for scrambled cloud information. Execution assessment shows that the proposed plans are useful and effective.

Whose hobbyhorse now?: A revised Foreword for Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History1

This article constitutes a new Foreword for James Elkins’s Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History. Reflecting on this work a decade after it was first published, this Foreword seeks to position Elkins’s text with respect to current debates about appropriation, decolonization, race, whiteness, privilege and a problematic, colonialist, EuroAmerican notion of ‘the global’. Now the questions I asked ten years ago in response to Elkins’s text are more pressing than ever: how can the history of the art of non-western cultures be figured in their own terms, and how might such a project operate without transposing the object of inquiry entirely into western epistemological frameworks and strategies of academic inquiry? This article seeks to consider how Elkins’s text both de- and re-centres the discipline of art history so that the western tradition alone no longer dominates its master narrative and serves as sole source of its conceptual lexicon. Moreover, this article posits that from Elkins’s text we might contemplate a future in which the western tradition might become marginal within the discipline of art history, its established terms, discourses and practices incommensurate with newly centred analogues drawn from non-western cultures.

Developing a researcher identity of relevance for remote Indigenous language education

PurposeThe study is an elaboration on how a graduate student discursively navigates a research identity through lived experiences as an Indigenous Sámi and writings on Indigenous, as well as other suitable research paradigms informing research on digital technologies in education. The guiding question is how a strategy of inquiry to be used in a PhD study on remote 1–9 Sámi language education can be informed by an Indigenous research paradigm. What philosophical guidelines are needed in navigating a sensitive field of investigation shaped by historical atrocities, discrimination and racist assumptions towards the Sámi people and other Indigenous, marginalised groups?Design/methodology/approachA dialogical approach has been used between readings of mainly Indigenous scholars' writings on the topic and anecdotes illustrating personal experiences from a lived life as Sámi.FindingsThrough this process, a researcher identity has developed, informed by the views from an Indigenous research paradigm that humans are ontologically equal to other entities, and epistemologically knowledge constitutes of relationships between different entities. This makes relationality a central feature of an Indigenous epistemology –not only between people but also including, for example, ideas, history, ancestors, future, artefacts and spirituality – which links epistemology to ontology. The axiological issue of accountability works holistically as “glue”.Originality/valueElucidating underlying arguments and motives behind both an Indigenous research paradigm and the development of researcher identity when designing and planning research is rarely done, which provides the originality of the present contribution.

Modeling and Analyzing Inquiry Strategies in Open-Ended Learning Environments

Modeling and predicting student learning in computer-based environments often relies solely on sequences of accuracy data. Previous research suggests that it does not only matter what we learn, but also how we learn. The detection and analysis of learning behavior becomes especially important, when dealing with open-ended exploration environments, which do not dictate prescribed learning sequences and skills. In this paper, we work with data collected from an inquiry-based environment. We demonstrate that 1) students’ inquiry strategies indeed influence the learning outcome, and 2) students’ inquiry strategies also seem to be predictive for their academic achievement. Furthermore, we identified a new positive inquiry strategy, which has not yet been described in the literature. We propose the use of a probabilistic model jointly representing student knowledge and strategies and show that the inclusion of learning behavior into the model significantly improves prediction of external posttest results compared to only using accuracy data, a result that we validated on a second data set. Furthermore, we cluster the children into different groups with similar learning strategies to get a complete picture of students’ inquiry behavior. The obtained clusters can be semantically interpreted and are not only correlated to learning success in the game, but also to students’ science grades and standardized math assessments. We also validated the cluster solution on a second data set. The inquiry-based environment together with the clustering solution has the potential to serve as an assessment tool for teachers and tutors.

Compulsory land acquisition by government and litigations in Ghana: an empirical study of three educational institutions in Wa Municipality

This study examined government’s compulsory acquisitions of land for public educational infrastructure development in Ghana, using three case studies in Wa Municipality of Upper West Region. The strategy of inquiry was qualitative, involving key informant interviews with heads of the acquiring authorities and beneficiary institutions as well as semi-structured interviews with pre-acquiring owners and settlers of the lands. The findings revealed that the processes of compulsory acquisition of the subject lands had been delayed, and it is unclear when they would be completed. The processes were not properly followed as determined in the State Lands Regulations of 1962 (L.I. 230) and its subsequent amendments, which provide the processes or procedures for state acquisition of lands under the State Lands Act of 1962 (Act 125), leading to agitations and litigations between landlords and government institutions. The study attributes the problems of compulsory land acquisition to failure of acquiring institutions to follow procedures laid by regulations on compulsory acquisition. It recommends that landowners should be represented in the acquisition process from the onset to ensure fairness and prompt payment of adequate compensation as provided for by the law to reduce tension and litigations between government institutions and landlords.

Co-creation and regional adaptation of a resilience-based universal whole-school program in five European regions

The co-creation of educational services that promote youth resilience and mental health is still scarce. UPRIGHT (Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally implemented in schools to improve and promote mental Health for Teenagers) is a research and intervention program in the Basque Country (Spain), Trentino (Italy), Low Silesia (Poland), Denmark and Reykjavik (Iceland). UPRIGHT implemented a co-creation research process whose results, outcomes and policy implications are presented here. The co-creation had a mixed-methods participatory research design with nine specific objectives linked to paired strategies of inquiry for adolescents, families, teachers and school staff. The overarching objective was to generate a valid and feasible regional adaptation strategy for UPRIGHT intervention model. Participants answered surveys ( n = 794) or attended 16 group sessions ( n = 217). The results integrate quantitative and qualitative information to propose a regional adaptation strategy that prioritizes resilience skills, adolescents’ concerns, and preferred methods for implementation across countries and in each school community. In conclusion, a whole-school resilience program must innovate, include and connect different actors, services and communities, and must incorporate new technologies and activities outside the classroom. A participatory co-creation process is an indispensable step to co-design locally relevant resilience interventions with the involvement of the whole-school community.

Becoming and being an older adult: A mixed methods study of the lived experience of aging

PurposeThis phenomenological inquiry explored what it is like to become and to be old. The principal aims of this study were to first characterize participants' lived experience of becoming and being an older person, then to determine the extent to which they were aging in a conscious way that evidenced aspects of gerotranscendence, and finally, to contextualize participants' responses within existing research on the phenomenon. Design and methodsIn a concurrent embedded mixed-methods design using an interpretive inquiry strategy, 17 men and women living independently in their communities responded to questions about their experience of aging and completed measures of gerotranscendence and adjustment to aging and their psychosocial correlates. A structural analysis of the verbatim transcripts of the interviews employed a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The quantitative measures informed further interpretations of interview data. ResultsMost participants exemplified aging well with strengths and positive experiences across multiple domains; others evidenced optimal aging as physical challenges began to appear.Seven themes emerged from the structural analysis of the interview transcripts: Accepting/making accommodations for the inexorable physical changes; Being old versus feeling old; Being seen as old; Changing—and growing—psychologically and emotionally; Experiencing time as long and as short; Maintaining meaningful interpersonal relationships; and Speaking and living freely, and authentically. Discussion and implicationsConvergences and divergences between the themes identified in this study and prior literature on the phenomenology of aging are discussed. Findings from this and similar studies have implications both for older adults and for those who care for and about them. If an older person is motivated to adapt in positive ways, then the potential to continue developing and growing into very old age is enhanced. On the macro level, an increased understanding of and appreciation for the breadth of older adults' experience of their eighth, ninth, and tenth decades of life should inform the development of policies, programs, and services to enhance their day-to-day lives.

La (im)posibilidad del patrimonio: entre conflicto social y el lugar del Estado

Aproximarse a la gobernanza del patrimonio implica hacer un ejercicio de comprensión profunda de lasdimensiones que intervienen allí: la distribución del poder, las prácticas culturales, la dimensión económica,imaginarios sociales y otros. En el presente trabajo se busca responder ¿qué factores posibilitanla gobernanza democrática de sitios con declaración patrimonial? A partir de la aplicación de la revisiónbibliográfica y visitas de campo, se recolectó información que, desde de una estrategia cualitativa quecombina observación estructurada y entrevistas, permitió analizar las particularidades y experienciascomunes en dos casos de gestión del patrimonio arqueológico en Ecuador: Ingapirca y Cerro de Hojas-Jaboncillo. El procesamiento del conflicto social, las trayectorias institucionales y los procesos de apropiaciónpatrimonial son elementos que conducen los hallazgos de este trabajo. La estrategia de indagaciónimplicó el diseño de una herramienta metodológica y su aplicación en los dos sitios mencionados a30 informantes locales de diferentes grupos sociales.

The Influence of Inquiry Learning Strategy and Critical Thinking Ability on the Results of Islamic Education Learning at SMA Negeri 2 Tanjung Morawa, Deli Serdang District

The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the learning outcomes of Islamic Education students who were taught with inquiry strategy were higher than the learning outcomes of students taught by conventional learning; (2) to find out the learning outcomes of Islamic Education students who have higher critical thinking skills than students who have low critical thinking skills, and; (3) to determine the interaction between learning strategies and critical thinking skills on the learning outcomes of Islamic Education. The research method is a quasi experiment. The study design was a two-factorial analysis of variance. The research instruments were questionnaires and tests. The data analysis technique used was analysis of variance at α 0.05. The findings of the study show: (1) the average learning outcomes of Islamic Education students who are taught with Inquiry learning strategies are higher than the average learning outcomes of Islamic Education students taught with conventional learning, (2) the average educational learning outcomes Islamic students with high critical thinking skills are higher than the average learning outcomes of students with low critical thinking skills, and (3) there is an interaction between learning strategies and critical thinking skills where students with high critical thinking skills are appropriately taught using Inquiry learning strategies can be seen that on average the learning outcomes of Islamic Education are higher.

Identifying patterns of students' performance on simulated inquiry tasks using PISA 2015 log‐file data

AbstractPrevious research has demonstrated the potential of examining log‐file data from computer‐based assessments to understand student interactions with complex inquiry tasks. Rather than solely providing information about what has been achieved or the accuracy of student responses (product data), students' log files offer additional insights into how the responses were produced (process data). In this study, we examined students' log files to detect patterns of students' interactions with computer‐based assessment and to determine whether unique characteristics of these interactions emerge as distinct profiles of inquiry performance. Knowledge about the characteristics of these profiles can shed light on why some students are more successful at solving simulated inquiry tasks than others and how to support student understanding of scientific inquiry through computer‐based environments. We analyzed the Norwegian PISA 2015 log‐file data, science performance as well as background questionnaire (N = 1,222 students) by focusing on two inquiry tasks, which required scientific reasoning skills: coordinating the effects of multiple variables and coordinating theory and evidence. Using a mixture modeling approach, we identified three distinct profiles of students' inquiry performance: strategic, emergent, and disengaged. These profiles revealed different characteristics of students' exploration behavior, inquiry strategy, time‐on‐task, and item accuracy. Further analyses showed that students' assignment to these profiles varied according to their demographic characteristics (gender, socio‐economic status, and language at home), attitudes (enjoyment in science, self‐efficacy, and test anxiety), and science achievement. Although students' profiles on the two inquiry tasks were significantly related, we also found some variations in the proportion of students' transitions between profiles. Our study contributes to understanding how students interact with complex simulated inquiry tasks and showcases how log‐file data from PISA 2015 can aid this understanding.

Development of Guided Inquiry Based Learning Materials Enriched with Augmented Reality in Electrolysis Cell Material

In electrolysis cell chemistry learning material students still experience Difficulties related to chemical material roomates characteristics include three levels of representation macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic. Therefore, the chemistry should be taught by inquiry strategies must be supported a program that is Able to visualize particulate material aspects in an electrolytic cell, such as Augmented Reality. The purpose of this study was to produce guided inquiry-based teaching materials assisted by Augmented Reality on the topic of electrolysis cells. . The development of teaching materials is Carried out in three stages namely (1) analysis phase, (2) design phase, and (3) development stage. Teaching materials are validated by three expert validator. The results of the validation Obtained a percentage of 87. 6% for aspects of the assessment in terms of media, 86.1% for aspects of the assessment in terms of material and 87.4% for the readability test. This indicate that the chemistry teaching material that has been developed is included in the very feasible category so that it can be used as a support in learning activities electrolysis cell material

أثر استخدام استراتیجیة الاستقصاء التعاونی فی تنمیة مهارات الحس العددی لدى طلاب الصف الخامس الابتدائی The Impact of Using Cooperative Inquiry Strategy in the Development of Numerical Sense Skills in Fifth Elementary Grade Students

هدفت الدراسة الکشف عن أثر استخدام استراتيجية الاستقصاء التعاوني في تنمية مهارات الحس العددي لدى طلاب الصف الخامس الابتدائي، ولتحقيق هذا الهدف استخدم الباحثان المنهج التجريبي وفق التصميم شبه التجريبي ذي المجموعتين التجريبية والضابطة، وتم إعادة صياغة وحدتي الجمع والطرح، الضرب من کتاب الرياضيات للصف الخامس الابتدائي وفق الاستراتيجية، وإعداد دليل معلم لتدريس الوحدتين، واختبار مهارات الحس العددي، وشملت عينة الدراسة (46) طالبا من طلاب الصف الخامس الابتدائي في مدرسة الفلاح الابتدائية التابعة لإدارة التعليم في محافظة بيشة، وبعد تطبيق الأدوات والمواد التعليمية توصل الباحثان إلى وجود فرق دال إحصائيا عند مستوى (0.05 ≥ α) بين متوسطي درجات طلاب المجموعتين التجريبية والضابطة في التطبيق البعدي للاختبار في مهارتي الحساب الذهني، والتقدير التقريبي لصالح المجموعة التجريبية، کما تم التوصل إلى أثر الاستراتيجية الإيجابي في تنمية مهارات الحس العددي لدى طلاب الصف الخامس الابتدائي، وفي ضوء هذه النتائج قدمت عدة توصيات منها ضرورة تحفيز المعلمين قبل وأثناء الخدمة على استخدام الاستراتيجية في التدريس، وتضمين ذلک في برامج الإعداد والتدريب، ويقترح الباحثان استخدام استراتيجية الاستقصاء التعاوني في تنمية مهارات الرياضيات في المرحلتين المتوسطة والثانوية The purpose of the study was to reveal the effect of using the cooperative inquiry strategy in developing numerical sense skills for the fifth-grade primary students. To achieve this goal, the researchers used the experimental approach according to the semi-experimental design with the two experimental and control groups, and the units of addition and subtraction, multiplication of the Mathematics book of the fifth grade of primary school were reformulated according to the strategy, a teacher’s guide for teaching the two units was prepared, and a test to measure numerical sense skills was built. The study sample included (46) students from the fifth grade of elementary school in Al-Falah Primary School of the Department of Education in Bisha Governorate, and after applying The tools and educational materials The researchers found a statistically significant difference at (0.05 ≥ α) between the mean scores of students of the experimental group and controlling group in the post-application of the test in the skills of mental arithmetic, and the approximate estimate in favor of the experimental group, and a positive impact for the strategic was also reached on developing skills Numerical sense for fifth-grade primary students. Considering these results, the study recommended motivating teachers before and during the service to use the strategy in teaching, and to include this in preparation and training programs. Finally, the researchers suggest using the cooperative inquiry strategy in the development of math skills in middle and secondary levels.

Strategies of inquiry: Focus and contrastive topic in polar questions

Strategies of inquiry: Focus and contrastive topic in polar questions

Wholesale Price Discrimination in Global Sourcing

Problem definition : We investigate wholesale price discrimination in a global sourcing marketplace. Academic/practical relevance : Previous research has found price discrimination in business-to-consumer markets, in which buyers are end customers. There is limited research on suppliers’ price-quoting behaviors and price discrimination in business-to-business (B2B) markets. It is unclear whether certain characteristics of B2B buyers, who are often representatives of firms and not end customers, would influence suppliers’ pricing decisions. Methodology : We collaborate with a global trading company that runs a field experiment on a B2B platform. Results : We find that there is no significant difference in the wholesale prices quoted to buyers selling in U.S. and South African markets. We also find that suppliers quote significantly higher wholesale prices to white buyers than to Asian and black buyers regardless of country. However, price discrimination disappears when buyers present market information to suppliers, providing the lowest wholesale price offered by other suppliers in the market, whereas price discrimination remains when buyers present social information to suppliers, thereby indicating the buyer is referred by a previous customer. In addition, we show that market information can help buyers obtain a lower wholesale price because it signals a lower willingness to pay. Social information, however, can reduce price quotes for only black and white buyers but not for Asian (particularly Chinese) buyers. Managerial implications : Our work can provide guidance to suppliers’ pricing strategies, buyers’ inquiry strategies, and B2B platforms’ information strategies to attract and retain users.

Developing a level-specific checklist for assessing EFL writing

In second language writing assessment, rating scales and scores from human-mediated assessment have been criticized for a number of shortcomings including problems with adequacy, relevance, and reliability (Hamp-Lyons, 1990; McNamara, 1996; Weigle, 2002). In its testing practice, Euroexam International also detected that the rating scales for writing at B2 had limited discriminating power and did not adequately reflect finer shades of candidate ability. This study sought to investigate whether a level-specific checklist of binary choice items could be designed to yield results that accurately reflect differential degrees of ability in EFL essay writing at level B2. The participants were four language teachers working as independent raters. The study involved the task materials, operational rating scales, reported scores, and candidate scripts from the May 2017 test administration. In a mixed-methods strategy of inquiry, qualitative data from stimulated recall, think-aloud protocols, and semi-structured interviews informed statistical test and item analyses. The results indicated that the checklist items were more transparent, led to increased variance, and contributed to a more coherent candidate language profile than scores from the rating scales. The implications support the recommendation that checklists should be used for level-specific language proficiency testing (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 189).