Theory-testing Study Research Articles

Augmenting the effect of professional development on effective instruction through professional communities

ABSTRACT This study addresses gaps in the research about the effect of professional development (PD) quality on effective instruction by taking a broad perspective when defining professional learning of teachers and by providing a theory-based explanation for effective instruction. Using a large-scale data set, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013, the interrelationships between the quality of PD experience, professional communities at the school, and effective instruction were investigated. This theory testing study showed that the effect of PD events on effective instruction was stronger with the spillover effect of professional communities than with its sole effect.

Consumer-Level Perceived Access to Health Services and Its Effects on Vulnerability and Health Outcomes

Access to health services affects the well-being of millions of consumers. Although the topic of health-related access is regularly featured in popular and academic conversations, these conversations primarily concentrate on objective or situational access factors. This research focuses instead on consumers’ subjective perception of access to better appreciate how personally experienced service availability and ease of access jointly determine consumers’ access perceptions. The authors find that perceived access to health services (PAHS) offers insight into the relationships between access, perceived health vulnerability, and overall health. Through scale development and a series of three theory-testing studies, this work demonstrates the close link between PAHS and perceived vulnerability (Study 1), connects this relationship to overall health (Studies 1–3), and establishes behavioral changes associated with access-vulnerability concerns (Study 2). Moreover, Study 3 finds evidence for a “muting” effect of health system distrust on the relationship between PAHS and perceived vulnerability as well as an “amplifying” effect of health motivation on the relationship between perceived vulnerability and overall health. Together, these studies illustrate PAHS’s relevance for explaining consumer vulnerability and overall health.

Reducing reputational risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish how executive managers in a South African organisation prioritise and manage reputational risks arising from stakeholder claims. The authors establish how corporate reputation and reputational risk fits into their decision making when considering stakeholder claims.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted in-depth interviews with the top management of a South African paint manufacture. They identified eight stakeholder claims and discussed how they assessed and addressed each one.FindingsRespondents identified highly, moderate, and low salient claims. They reported on how they dealt with these different claims in terms of the attributes of power, legitimacy, and urgency.Originality/valueThis is an empirical theory-testing study of how managers deal with stakeholder claims. The authors establish how corporate reputation and reputational risk fits into their decision making when considering stakeholder claims. The authors suggest that managers must not only understand who their stakeholders are, but need to evaluate the impact of stakeholder claims in order to manage reputational risk.

The Role of E-Service Quality and Information Quality in Creating Perceived Value: Antecedents to Web Site Loyalty

This theory-testing study is an examination of the influences of perceived information quality and perceived e-service quality in determining perceived value, and the influence of these three constructs in determining web site loyalty intentions. The results indicate that (1) perceived e-service quality and perceived information quality similarly influence loyalty intentions, (2) perceived e-service quality more strongly influences perceived value than does perceived information quality, and (3) perceived information quality partially mediates the relationship between perceived e-service quality and perceived value. The model was significant in explaining loyalty intentions.

Editor’s Choice

Fatigue is such a widespread experience of both ill and otherwise well people that it is becoming known as the sixth vital sign. Indeed, virtually every woman who gives birth experiences some degree of postpartum fatigue, which has the potential to interfere with her and her family members’activities of daily living and the quality of the life of the expanding family. The study by Song et al. (2010) in this issue of JAN contributes substantially to understanding postpartum fatigue. Overall, their findings are generalizable to women worldwide, and the inclusion of satisfaction with Sanjujori–a form of postpartum care provided by non-professional caregivers in Korea–sensitizes us to the cultural context of postpartum fatigue. Researchers who are interested in postpartum fatigue might want to test Song et al.’s theory in other cultures to determine if concepts specific to those cultures are associated with postpartum fatigue. Researchers who are interested in fatigue experienced by people with diverse health conditions may want to use the Song et al.’s theory as a starting point for development and testing of fatigue theories that are specific to those health conditions. Inasmuch as cancer-related fatigue is arguably as intense as postpartum fatigue and may last much longer due to the prolonged course of cancer treatment, I encourage oncology nurse researchers to follow the theoretical lead provided by Song et al. Song et al.’s study joins a growing number of other explicit theory-generating and theory-testing studies that collectively represent the evidence needed to advance evidence-based nursing practice (see for example, Tsai et al. 2003, Sheehan et al. 2010). Descriptive theory-generating and theory-testing studies yield descriptive theories, which provide evidence for assessments of people’s health-related experiences. Correlational theory-testing studies yield explanatory theories, which provide evidence for more comprehensive assessments of people’s health-related experiences. Experimental theory-testing studies yield predictive theories, which provide evidence for nursing interventions directed toward improving people’s well-being. Hallmarks of Song et al.’s correlational explanatory theory-testing research are the careful explanation of the relation of each concept of their theory to other concepts and a sophisticated analysis of data using structural equation modelling that accounted for some concepts acting as mediators. Their findings revealed a more parsimonious theory than initially proposed, with some relations between some concepts found to be non-significant. It is, I believe, important to not leap to recommendations for experimental studies to test predictive theories of nursing interventions on the basis of the findings of correlational studies of explanatory theories. Instead, the logical recommendation stemming from any correlational study designed to test an explanatory theory should be comprehensive patient assessment. Accordingly, Song et al.’s study findings provide the evidence needed for comprehensive assessment of women during the postpartum to determine their level of fatigue and concepts that are associated with fatigue, especially postpartum depression and quality of sleep during the postpartum. Furthermore, inasmuch as Song et al. found that childcare stress, unsatisfactory infant feeding, infant difficulty, satisfaction with Sanjujor and social support were indirectly related to postpartum fatigue, a comprehensive assessment might also include those concepts. The instruments used by Song et al. to measure the theory concepts encompassed 61 items, which may be considered excessive for use in practice. Therefore, if clinicians find that so many items impose undue respondent burden in everyday practice, shorter forms of the instruments or other measures of the theory concepts could be developed. For example, a comprehensive assessment form could be made up of a one-item numerical rating scale or a visual analogue scale for each theory concept.

A multi‐dimensional construct of commercial motor vehicle operators' attitudes toward safety regulations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement scale to assess over‐the‐road commercial motor vehicle operators' attitudes toward safety regulations.Design/methodology/approachA literature review of the current USA motor carrier safety literature and general safety literature is conducted to determine the existence of a construct and measurement scale suitable for assessing truck drivers' attitudes toward regulations. As no existing construct is found, a new construct needs to be developed. A rigorous construct development process is conducted to establish the content domain, reliability, and validity of a new construct to measure truck drivers' regulatory attitudes.FindingsThe results of this paper shows a reliable and valid construct to measure truck drivers' perceptions of the general attitude, effectiveness, and enforcement of safety regulations.Research limitations/implicationsThis effort is the initial construct development process and use of the construct in theory testing studies is necessary.Practical implicationsThe regulatory attitude construct is developed in support of a larger investigation into the behavioral aspects of truck driver safety. The broader study seeks to inform theory and practice as to how the trucking industry's regulatory environment influences truck drivers' safety‐related decisions and behaviors. By identifying the impact of the regulatory environment, safety program managers should be able to direct their educational and training efforts to influence factors that will result in better decisions and safer driving behaviors.Originality/valueThis construct development process marks the first attempt to comprehensively measure truck drivers' attitudes toward safety regulations.

An empirical test of alternate theories of anger in early adolescents.

Anger is an especially important phenomenon to understand in early adolescents. While many explanatory theories of state anger can be applied to early adolescents, few, if any, researchers have attempted to test these theories in this age group. To test three theories explaining state anger vis-a-vis each other using hierarchical analysis of sets. This was a theory-testing study with a complex correlational design. A total of 141 adolescents aged 12 to 14 years responded to the State Anger Scale and instruments measuring variables linked to stress theory (perceived stress and primary appraisal), differential emotion theory (depression and state anxiety), and trait theory (trait anger and hostility), that were randomly ordered across instrument packets. Using hierarchical analysis of sets, the results indicated that the sets of variables used to test all three theories explained a statistically significant proportion of variance in state anger when entered first in the analysis. Comparatively, the trait theory variables explained more variance in state anger when entered first (41%) in the analysis than did the emotion theory variables when entered first (31%) in the analysis or the stress theory variables when entered first (21%) in the analysis. The stress theory, the differential emotion theory, and the trait theory all provided theoretically sound and relevant explanations of state anger for early adolescents. However, the trait theory provided the most powerful explanation.

Theory-testing research

Lack of emphasis on the empirical validation of nursing models has hindered the development of nursing science. This article explores issues concerning theory development in nursing and criteria for evaluating theory-testing research. From a comprehensive review of the literature on theory testing, 15 criteria are identified as essential for evaluating theory-testing studies. The criteria are applied to selected research reports, and recommendations for future use of criteria are suggested.

Sweet Potatoes O'Brien: A Comment

take. My first suggestion is: There can be a continuation of the two types of research presented in this volume, namely of small groups and of specific cultural patterns that appear to characterize the region as a whole. While acknowledging that these would be sharply limited, I state, would be nonetheless valuable in increasing knowledge about the regional subculture. I then say, However large the society being studied, there is always social interaction in small groups reflecting patterns of the society, and, quoting Frankenberg (1966:149) with approval, state, paradoxically, 'only the most intensive of very limited areas of social life will make the most extensive comparative work possible.' Clearly, I do not say these papers are in any sense inappropriate approaches. On the contrary, I state they are quite appropriate and valuable. After all, I spent more than two years collecting, selecting, editing, and corresponding about them, and I use them in introductory courses each semester with enthusiastic response, a number of students having been inspired to carry out similar research studies. What I suggest next (and this is apparently where the reviewer was misled) is: Another approach is to have teams of anthropologists use entire communities as the object of It is the reviewer, not I, who uses the term better approach. I contend that the approaches are different and that both are valuable, although obviously teams of anthropologists studying entire communities can carry out what I call base-line, time-interval, and theory-testing studies more effectively than can the single participant-observer studying a much more limited cultural system. Incidentally, the reviewer claims I did not define community. definition is there, quoted from Arensberg (1954:120). In his final paragraph, the reviewer raises a controversial issue when he states, The contributing anthropologists were either unable or unwilling to give up their participantobservation methodology. He suggests they might have used other techniques, such as survey research. My contention in the book is that participant-observation is essential for in vivo, holistic resear h, and that it can help anthropology make a needed contribution to the study of complex societies by viewing behavior patterns in context and in relationship to other patterns. Rather than giving up participant-observation, I prefer to see it made more effective in the study of complex societies.