Unsuccessful Applicants Research Articles

A machine learning approach to police recruitment: Exploring the predictive value of social identity measurement instruments

Existing research on police recruitment is eclectic, with examples of multiple methodologies in multiple police-related settings. These methods often resemble psychological measurement of individual traits yet neglect the potential recruits’ social resources or network-based influence. More recent research has utilised social identity and social network theory to understand the route to a police candidate’s eventual recruitment, but this is underdeveloped. This literature indicates that further research utilising social identity theory could assist with understanding what was before for police recruits and whether that matters. This study explores the use of random forest machine learning to analyse one partial and two full self-report social identity measurement instruments completed by 886 police recruit applicants. It aimed to explore whether the results of these instruments completed by potential police recruits were predictive of their success in the recruitment process. The results reveal that the combined use of these validated social identity instruments offers a reliable predictive base for successful and unsuccessful applicants, with an overall accuracy rate of 86% across the model’s performance metrics. The implications from this study highlight the significance of perceived social identity in the context of police recruitment, emphasising the potential impact of using its measurement to gain improved understanding of candidate selection. Social identity measurement instruments could be incorporated into recruitment processes, allowing police departments to enhance their ability to identify individuals who are more likely to succeed at an earlier stage via machine learning. Practically, this could reduce the need for multiple, expensive recruitment stages. Theoretically, it illustrates that a police recruit’s social identity is of importance to whether a candidate is successful or not, presenting police forces with both challenges and opportunities.

Targeted, actionable and fair: Reviewer reports as feedback and its effect on ECR career choices.

Previous studies of the use of peer review for the allocation of competitive funding agencies have concentrated on questions of efficiency and how to make the 'best' decision, by ensuring that successful applicants are also the more productive or visible in the long term. This paper examines the components of feedback received from an unsuccessful grant application, is associated with motivating applicants career decisions to persist (reapply for funding at T1), or to switch (not to reapply, or else leave academia). This study combined data from interviews with unsuccessful ECR applicants (n = 19) to The Wellcome Trust 2009-19, and manual coding of reviewer comments received by applicants (n = 81). All applicants received feedback on their application at T0 with a large proportion of unsuccessful applicants reapplying for funding at T1. Here, peer-review-comments-as-feedback sends signals to applicants to encourage them to persist (continue) or switch (not continue) even when the initial application has failed. Feedback associated by unsuccessful applicants as motivating their decision to resubmit had three characteristics: actionable; targeted; and fair. The results lead to identification of standards of feedback for funding agencies and peer-reviewers to promote when providing reviewer feedback to applicants as part of their peer review process. The provision of quality reviewer-reports-as-feedback to applicants, ensures that peer review acts as a participatory research governance tool focused on supporting the development of individuals and their future research plans.

Sounds Like There was No Sexual Orientation Discrimination? Attributions to Discrimination on the Basis of Auditory Gaydar

ABSTRACT Auditory gaydar happens when people’s heterosexuality is called into question by their vocal characteristics. Auditory gaydar has been shown to prompt discrimination against both women and men interviewing for leadership positions. Two experiments tested whether attributional ambiguity makes auditory gaydar discrimination difficult to detect in such contexts. Either heterosexual participants (Study 1, n = 161) or heterosexual and sexual minority participants (Study 2, n = 238) heard short clips of straight- vs. lesbian/gay-sounding speakers, described as unsuccessful applicants for leadership positions. Participants explained the speakers’ unsuccessful outcome in their own words and rated the likelihood that gender and sexual orientation discrimination caused that outcome. Attributions to gender discrimination were common whilst attributions to sexual prejudice were vanishingly rare. Women targets were rated more likely to have experienced gender discrimination, and lesbian/gay-sounding targets were rated more likely to have experienced sexual orientation discrimination by some participants (Study 1) or all participants (Study 2). We conclude that auditory gaydar may prompt discriminatory treatment in leadership hiring processes more readily than in prompts the recognition that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has occurred.

Topic choice, gendered language, and the under-funding of female scholars in mission-oriented research

We investigate the participation of male and female applicants to a competition for research funding, using an original dataset with detailed information on both successful and unsuccessful applicants to 21 calls by a mission-oriented funding agency. We use this information to construct a fictitious pool of 277,464 potential applicants and to model their probability to submit an application. We find that, even after controlling for productivity, quality of research, seniority, years of career discontinuity, number of prior applications, affiliation, and ethnicity, women were still less likely to apply than men. The lower likelihood of females to apply was not explained by the use of masculine language in the text of the calls. Instead, women's research interests were more distant from the topics of the calls than men's. Topic proximity fully mediated female penalization in the likelihood to apply for research funding. These results are an important heads-up, in view of the increasing focus of governments in mission-oriented programs.

The impact of the pitching research framework on AFAANZ grant applications

Grant applications are notoriously difficult and time-consuming. Templates are considered by some as a means to expedite and streamline grant applications, potentially resulting in a less onerous and more efficient process. Since 2015, AFAANZ has led the way by adopting the Pitching Research Framework to structure grant applications. However, empirical evidence is needed to better understand the effectiveness and value of this approach both for grant applicant(s) as well as grant assessor(s). This project seeks to explore the extent to which the Pitching Research Framework (PRF) helps PhD scholars (PhDs), Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and Mid-Career Researchers (MCRs) to develop and submit grant applications to AFAANZ. As this paper is a pre-registered report for the Pacific Basin Finance Journal (PBFJ), the details of the project plan are presented, though with no findings as data collection has not yet commenced. By investigating perceptions of both successful and unsuccessful AFAANZ grant applicants, this project will provide insights into the utility of the PRF in grant submissions. It also aims to explore the efficacy and value of the PRF for AFAANZ grant assessors in efficiently and effectively assessing applications. Thus the project aims to deliver valuable empirical insights into the overall effectiveness of the AFAANZ grants process and the role of the PRF within it.

The Fate of the Unmatched Urology Applicant

ObjectiveTo determine the outcomes and eventual career paths for unmatched applicants by evaluating a historical cohort of unmatched applicants in the Urology Match. MethodsThe 2008-2014 AUA Match lists were obtained from the Society of Academic Urologists and 730 unique applicants were identified with at least one unmatched result. Additional information such as preliminary training and eventual specialty choice were obtained from publicly available sources. Comparative analysis with univariable and multivariable analysis was performed between eventual urologists and those who chose alternative career paths. ResultsOverall, 43.5% (318/730) of unmatched urology applicants subsequently continued their interest in Urology and 77.4% (246/317) of initially unsuccessful applicants eventually became urologists. Males (80.9%, P = .01), Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) degree (62.5%, P = <.001), and those undergoing a research year compared to a preliminary surgery year (85.2% vs 72.0% respectively, P = .047) had an increased likelihood of successfully becoming a urologist. The most common alternative specialty choices were Internal Medicine (13.8%), General Surgery (12.9%) and Anesthesiology (11.9%). ConclusionUrology is a competitive surgical sub-specialty. Surprisingly, approximately 3 in 4 unmatched urology applicants who continue their interest in urology will eventually obtain a residency position. However, only 33.7% of initially unmatched students ultimately became urologists. Unmatched applicants have several viable pathways to obtain a urological residency position. Male gender, a DO degree, and a research year are associated with successfully obtaining a urology residency position.

Effective or predatory funding? Evaluating the hidden costs of grant applications.

Researchers are spending an increasing fraction of their time on applying for funding; however, the current funding system has considerable deficiencies in reliably evaluating the merit of research proposals, despite extensive efforts on the sides of applicants, grant reviewers and decision committees. For some funding schemes, the systemic costs of the application process as a whole can even outweigh the granted resources-a phenomenon that could be considered as predatory funding. We present five recommendations to remedy this unsatisfactory situation.

The effects of EU-funded enterprise grants on firms and workers

This paper investigates the effects of non-repayable enterprise grants on Hungarian SMEs, financed from the European Union’s Structural and Cohesion Funds between 2004–2014. Comparing firm- and worker level outcomes of successful and unsuccessful applicants, we find that subsidized firms increase their employment, sales, capital-to-labor ratio and labor productivity, but we find conflicting results for total factor productivity. The skill composition of workers is not affected by the grant, but wages increase, although only for skilled workers and especially managers. These results suggest that the program generates additional investment, but that investment leads to limited technology upgrading at best. According to our simple calculations, the cost of creating an additional job with this program was equivalent to 3 years average wage and each year’s grants contributed to aggregate SME labor productivity growth by 0.2-0.6 percentage points — with an annual cost often in excess of 1 percent of total SME value added.

Practical guidance for firefighter applicants preparing for cardiorespiratory fitness testing: a secondary analysis of self-reported physical activity levels.

Adequate cardiorespiratory fitness is critical for firefighters since an insufficient level of fitness threatens the integrity of their operations and could be dangerous for their lives. In fact, the leading cause of mortality for on-duty firefighters is not injury but sudden cardiac death. Therefore, to mitigate these risks, potential firefighter recruits are often required to perform a graded exercise test to determine their cardiorespiratory fitness as part of the recruitment process. However, there are currently limited data available to prospective firefighters on the amounts and types of exercises needed to be successful in the graded exercise test, commonly known as a V̇O2max test. Physiological parameters for the current secondary analysis were collected on firefighter applicants who performed the graded exercise test where 72% were successful and 28% were unsuccessful to meet the minimum standard set at 42.5 ml kg−1 min−1. Prior to their test, applicants were asked to describe their exercise training routine by indicating the number of minutes per week spent exercising. Activities were then divided into one of two categories: endurance exercise or strength and power exercise training. The total exercise training describes the sum of all activities performed each week. The sum of endurance exercise activities and the sum of strength and power exercise activities were compared between the successful and the unsuccessful groups and results showed that successful applicants had a higher training volume and performed more endurance exercise training as compared to unsuccessful applicants. Therefore, practical recommendations related to exercise training regime are presented for firefighter applicants to embrace as guidance to prepare for their graded exercise test as part of their recruitment process.

Protecting indigenous identities? An example of cultural expertise on sámi identity

The national law of Finland identify criteria of belonging to the Indigenous Sámi in order to protect their cultural heritage and identity. In Finland, the electoral committee of the representative organ of Sámi Indigenous Peoples, the Sámi Parliament, decides who fulfills the criteria for being Sámi and thus is included in the electoral roll. Since its establishment, the Sámi Parliament has rejected hundreds of applications by persons not recognized as Sámi. Unsuccessful applicants can appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (SAC). In 2015, the SAC overturned 93 rejections. This led to an internal crisis of the Sámi Parliament and to the question, who actually has the cultural expertise to decide who is indigenous in Finland. Sámi activists filed two complaints with the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding the violation of Sámi rights to self-determination. In 2019, the Human Rights Committee concluded that Finland had violated the rights of the Sámi. This paper analyzes what is the cultural expertise for ascertaining Sámi identity and who exercises it. The focus is on the evidence required by the SAC and the question of whether identity can be decided by legal experts, independent judges of a Finnish judiciary without any involvement of cultural experts. It is argued that the legal instruments adopted to protect Indigenous Peoples lack cultural expertise on the diversity and heterogeneity of the real-life contexts where rights are negotiated, leading applicants to repeat essentialist arguments of how Indigenous Peoples stereotypically would be.

Characteristics of students in International Dentist Training Programs versus applicants who are not yet successful in matriculating.

For foreign-trained dentists who seek requalification in United States dental schools, the acceptance rate is half that of applicants to traditional 4-year DDS/DMD programs. Unsuccessful applicants also lack clarity on how to strengthen their re-application. This is a comparison of foreign-trained dentists who successfully matriculated into the University of Michigan's advanced standing program and prospective students who have yet to matriculate into any advanced standing program. We collected data through a survey on the website of the University of Michigan program for foreign-trained dentists-the Synergy Program is tuition-free and helps International Dental Program (IDP) applicants navigate the application process. Secondly, we surveyed those enrolled in the University of Michigan's IDP. We compared various characteristics of these two groups. Thirdly, we convened focus groups among the University of Michigan IDP and had unstructured discussions about barriers faced by internationally trained dentists in entering an IDP. University of Michigan Medical School Committee on Human Studies determined this research is "not regulated". There were 2400 unique visitors to the Synergy website. Among respondents, 1490 were female (62.1%). A total of 10.1% reported spending over $30,000 on strengthening their application. There were 38 individuals (out of a possible 60) in the University of Michigan's IDP who responded to the survey and 28 were female (73.7%). A total of 31.6% reported spending more than $30,000 on strengthening their application. We had focus groups with 12 IDP students. Regarding perceived differences that led to acceptance, all participants described the advantage in having a greater familiarity with American culture. We found that those from wealthier households, those who are willing to spend more on their application process, and those who obtained an additional US degree were more likely to be matriculants in IDPs.

The impact of gender on scientific writing: An observational study of grant proposals

ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the language used in grant applications submitted to a Southern Brazil Research Support Foundation (FAPERGS) according to the gender, career stage, and the number of publications of applicants. Study Design and SettingThis observational study also evaluated the relationship between gender, career stage, curriculum, and writing characteristics. Summaries of all research proposals in the biomedical field of FAPERGS during the years of 2013 and 2014 were evaluated according to six language patterns (Positive emotions, Negative emotions, Analytic thinking, Clout, Authenticity, and Emotional tone) defined by the LIWC software. Applicant's gender, career stage, and the number of publications were also collected. ResultsThree hundred and forty-four (344) grant proposals met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. No statistical differences were observed in the language pattern used by different gender applicants. In the language used by successful and unsuccessful applicants, we only found a small difference for clout (score 54.5 for not funded and 56.5 for funded grants). However, the principal investigators of successful applications had a significantly higher number of papers published (mean number of papers: 104 versus 58.5). Conclusions: Gender bias appears to be a more complex problem than just the type of language used; the way society is organized causes several gender biases that may be reflected throughout the women's career.

Design and Implementation of a Big Data Evaluator Recommendation System Using Deep Learning Methodology

As the number of researchers in South Korea has grown, there is increasing dissatisfaction with the selection process for national research and development (R&amp;D) projects among unsuccessful applicants. In this study, we designed a system that can recommend the best possible R&amp;D evaluators using big data that are collected from related systems, refined, and analyzed. Our big data recommendation system compares keywords extracted from applications and from the full-text of the achievements of the evaluator candidates. Weights for different keywords are scored using the term frequency–inverse document frequency algorithm. Comparing the keywords extracted from the achievement of the evaluator candidates’, a project comparison module searches, scores, and ranks these achievements similarly to the project applications. The similarity scoring module calculates the overall similarity scores for different candidates based on the project comparison module scores. To assess the performance of the evaluator candidate recommendation system, 61 applications in three Review Board (RB) research fields (system fusion, organic biochemistry, and Korean literature) were recommended as the evaluator candidates by the recommendation system in the same manner as the RB’s recommendation. Our tests reveal that the evaluator candidates recommended by the Korean Review Board and those recommended by our system for 61 applications in different areas, were the same. However, our system performed the recommendation in less time with no bias and fewer personnel. The system requiresrevisions to reflect qualitative indicators, such as journal reputation, before it can entirely replace the current evaluator recommendation process.

The effect of business cycle expectations on the German apprenticeship market: estimating the impact of Covid-19

A firm’s expectation about the future business cycle is an important determinant of the decision to train apprentices, especially as German firms typically offer apprenticeships to either fill future skilled worker positions, or as a substitute for other types of labor. The current coronavirus crisis will have a strong and negative impact on the German economy, according to the current business cycle expectations of German firms. To the extent that the training decisions of firms depend on these perceptions, we expect a downward shift in firm demand for apprentices and consequently also a decrease in the equilibrium number of apprenticeship contracts. To assess the impact of changes in business cycle expectations, we analyze German data on the apprenticeship market at the state-level and at the occupation-level within states from 2007 to 2019. We apply first-differences regressions to account for unobserved heterogeneity across states and occupations, allowing us to identify the association between changes in two popular measures of business cycle expectations (the ifo Business Climate Index and the ifo Employment Barometer) and subsequent changes in the demand for apprentices, the number of new apprenticeship contracts, unfilled vacancies and unsuccessful applicants. We find that the German apprenticeship market prior to the current crisis can be characterized by excess demand for apprentices (although there are matching problems in some states, with both a high share of unfilled vacancies and a high share of unsuccessful applicants). Taking into account the most recent data on business cycle expectations up to June 2020, we estimate that the coronavirus-related decrease in firms’ expectations about the business cycle can be associated with a predicted 8% decrease in firm demand for apprentices and a 6% decrease in the number of new apprenticeship positions in Germany compared to 2019 (− 30,000 apprenticeship contracts; 95% confidence interval: ± 8000).

Volunteerism, social context and health impacts: a qualitative study of Glasgow Commonwealth Games event volunteers

ABSTRACT Volunteer engagement is crucial to the effective delivery of mega-sporting events. While evidence points to reported motivations and wellbeing benefits for individual participants during and post event, there is less evidence on how this type of civic participation relates to the social context in which it occurs and the wider social determinants of health. This qualitative study sought to understand the impacts on wellbeing and the determinants of health resulting from the experience of volunteering at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Focus groups and interviews were conducted one-year post-Games to gather the perspectives of 46 volunteers and 7 unsuccessful applicants on their experiences. Participants provided insight into the volunteer journey, contributions and associated outcomes. Wider social impacts were also reported including a renewed sense of pride in the city. The qualitative analysis suggested an important non-linear relationship between volunteer contributions, impacts and rewards, and the outcome of enhanced social connections. The emergent ‘people and place’ framework identifies some critical factors around city life and volunteer assets that planners could consider in developing and evaluating sustainable volunteering and its wider impacts beyond a mega-event.

Profiling Performance Trajectories in the Internal Hiring and Adjustment Process

Internal hiring has been recognized as an important staffing strategy and a strong driver of employee internal mobility. The current study explores whether different performance change patterns exist for successful and unsuccessful internal applicants after their application and how their abilities relate to performance change patterns. In Study 1, using the latent class growth analysis, we identify the coexistence of three distinct longitudinal change patterns of successful applicants’ job performance (i.e., maintenance, upward, and downward patterns) and four distinct change patterns for unsuccessful applicants’ (i.e. slightly increase, downward, inverted-U from medium performance, and inverted-U from low performance patterns). In Study 2, we replicate these patterns and demonstrate that workability and adaptability are important antecedents of such performance change patterns. Specifically, successful applicants with high workability displayed an upward pattern; Successful applicants with low adaptability displayed a downward pattern; Unsuccessful applicants with low workability displayed an inverted-U from low performance pattern; Unsuccessful applicants with low adaptability displayed downward pattern.

Development and evaluation of additional college of pharmacy admittance variables: Life experiences and holistic composite scores

IntroductionThis study aimed to develop and evaluate new variables for assessment of doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program candidates. MethodsTwo new admissions variables were created. The life experiences variable included number of awards, letter of reference scores, degree attainment, publications, prior academic suspension, leadership experience, work experience, and a diversity score. The holistic composite variable consisted of Pharmacy College Admission Test score, pre-pharmacy grade point average (GPA), interview score, and the new life experiences score. Variables were retroactively applied to prior admissions data, and scores of successful applicants were compared to scores of unsuccessful applicants. ResultsA total of 968 applicants from the 2015 and 2016 applicant pools were included in the evaluation analysis. Applicants offered admission had higher average scores for life experiences and holistic composite variables compared to those that were not offered admission (63.6 vs. 59.95 and 77.3 vs. 64, respectively). The life experiences and holistic composite scores were positively correlated with an offer of admission (0.142 and 0.547, respectively) and post-admission GPA (0.211 and 0.433, respectively) and negatively correlated with applicants accepting the offer of admission (−0.158 and − 0.25, respectively). ConclusionsThe holistic composite score was strongly predictive of an offer for admission and post-admission academic success, indicating that it may be a useful tool in assessing applicants. As new data becomes available, revisions could be considered to the life experiences score to better predict offer of an interview, offer of admission, and post-admission academic success.

Mentored training and its association with dissemination and implementation research output: a quasi-experimental evaluation

BackgroundThere is a continued need to evaluate training programs in dissemination and implementation (D&I) research. Scientific products yielded from trainees are an important and objective measure to understand the capacity growth within the D&I field. This study evaluates our mentored training program in terms of scientific productivity among applicants.MethodsPost-doctoral and early-career cancer researchers were recruited and applied to the R25 Mentored Training for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (MT-DIRC) between 2014 and 2017. Using application details and publicly available bibliometric and funding data, we compared selected fellows with unsuccessful applicants (nonfellows). We extracted Scopus citations and US federal grant funding records for all applicants (N = 102). Funding and publication abstracts were de-identified and coded for D&I focus and aggregated to the applicant level for analysis. Logistic regression models were explored separately for the odds of (1) a D&I publication and (2) US federal grant funding post year of application among fellows (N = 55) and nonfellows (N = 47). Additional models were constructed to include independent variables that attenuated the program’s association by 5% or more. Only US-based applicants (N = 87) were included in the grant funding analysis.ResultsFellows and nonfellows were similar across several demographic characteristics. Fellows were more than 3 times more likely than nonfellows to have grant funding after MT-DIRC application year (OR 3.2; 95% CI 1.1–11.0) while controlling for time since application year; the association estimate was 3.1 (95% CI 0.98–11.0) after adjusting for both cancer research area and previous grant funding. For publications, fellows were almost 4 times more likely to publish D&I-focused work adjusting for time (OR 3.8; 95% CI 1.7–9.0). This association lessened after adjusting for previous D&I publication and years since undergraduate degree (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.2–7.5).ConclusionsWe document the association of a mentored training approach with built-in networks of peers to yield productive D&I researchers. Future evaluation efforts could be expanded to include other forms of longer-term productivity such as policy or practice change as additional objective measures. D&I research trainings in the USA and internationally should consider common evaluation measures.

The dropout effects of career pathways: Evidence from California

Contemporary Career and Technical Education (CTE) models have shifted from isolated courses to sequences of study that integrate academics and skills in high-demand sectors. Providing career pathways to high school students may reduce asymmetries about the available careers and strategies for attaining them but they may also catalyze students’ intrinsic motivation by shifting their understanding of their social role and capacity for success. In this study, I estimate the effects of an ambitious $500 million effort to encourage the formation of career pathways in California. Funding supported the formation of tripartite partnerships between K-12 school districts, employers and community colleges to develop career pathway curricula (i.e., articulated course sequences) in high-demand occupations and sectors. I provide causal estimates of implementing this multifaceted intervention by leveraging a natural experiment that occurs at the margin of grant receipt. Using Regression Discontinuity (RD) designs, I provide evidence on the most proximate mechanism, increased CTE spending. Per pupil CTE expenditures increased by 21.7 percent for grant recipients at the assignment threshold relative to the CTE spending of unsuccessful applicants. Furthermore, dropout rates declined by 23 percent in treatment districts but were more pronounced for females than males.

The Effects of Eu-Funded Enterprise Grants on Firms and Workers

This paper investigates the effects of non-repayable enterprise grants financed from the European Union's Structural and Cohesion Funds on firm outcomes in Hungary using firm- and worker-level information on all rejected and successful grant applications between 2004-2014. In our model, after paying the fixed cost of applying, firms can purchase capital at a reduced marginal cost and they share the rent generated from the grant with their workers. In line with the model's predictions, larger than average, more productive and faster growing firms are more likely to apply for a grant. We combine panel regression methods with matching techniques to estimate the effect of grants by comparing successful and unsuccessful applicants' outcomes. Subsidized firms increase their employment, sales, capital-to-labor ratio and labor productivity, but not total factor productivity. The skill composition of workers is not affected by the grant but wages grow, especially for skilled workers. Firms winning multiple grans benefit more already from the first grant and successive grants have even larger effects. According to our simple calculations, each year's subsidy program created jobs in grant winning firms equivalent to 0.3-0.5 percent of total SME employment and contributed by 0.3-0.7 percentage points to aggregate SME productivity growth – with an annual cost often in excess of 1 percent of total SME value added. These results suggest that these grants promote firm growth, but do not lead firms to introduce new forms of production or upgrade technology.