1,720,957 research outputs found
Computerised adaptive method for assessing university undergraduates’ mental well-being within an African context : an open-source set-up with Concerto
Full text linkDATA AVAILABILITY :
The data on the Concerto parameter table and simulation report are available at: https://osf.io/24czv/ and https://osf.io/jr8w5 respectively.This research presents the development of a computerised adaptive testing system for assessing university undergraduates' mental health in an African setting. An item pool of 375 items that reflect eight sub-constructs of mental well-being (coping with normal stress of life, realising potential, studying effectively, social interaction, school-life balance, emotional stability, healthy living, and belief system) was developed. FastTest was used to pilot-test the item using a sample of 406 undergraduate students from South Africa and Nigeria. Each candidate was given 100 items utilising the linear on-the-fly test administration. Four hundred and seven responses were received which was subjected to psychometric analysis using the Samejima's Graded IRT model to calibrate the items. One hundred and seventy-five items resulted which was used to design the mental wellbeing adaptive scale for use within the university community at no cost to the student and institution.
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Using concerto, the detailed inflow with an html embedded function is clearly explained.
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The scale dynamically adjusts the difficulty/relevance of questions based on respondents' previous answers, thereby enhancing precision and reducing users test burden.
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An adaptable, scalable, and culturally appropriate non-illness method for assessing students’ mental wellbeing being an improvement on the linear form is presented.A grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York which was deployed through the Future Africa Research Leadership programme.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/methodsxhj2024PsychologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein
Students’ perception of access to academic financing in higher education in North-Central Nigeria
Full text linkThe main objective of this study is to investigate students\u27 views on the various means of academic financing for higher education in Nigeria, with analytical insights into how the respondents\u27 demographics moderate their perceptions. This study adopted a descriptive research design of the survey type. The population of the study comprised students from three higher institutions in North-Central Nigeria, while the target population consisted of students in at least their third year of study. A multi-staged sampling procedure was employed, incorporating purposive, proportionate, and random sampling techniques. A researcher-designed and validated questionnaire was used to assess the impact of academic financing on higher education in North-Central Nigeria. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the test of internal consistency approach, after which it was disseminated via online forms. The data collected and stored electronically in spreadsheets were analysed using descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques. Findings revealed a moderate perceived impact of academic financing on access, with significant variations based on age and type of institution. The study recommends policy reforms focused on equitable and efficiently managed financial aid schemes
Technology readiness and implications for higher education in Universities in North-Central Nigeria
Full text linkThe fourth industrial revolution emphasises classroom innovation with digital and smart technology. It examined students\u27 preparation for technology-driven education in higher education and the fourth industrial revolution. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The population consisted of students from tertiary institutions, while the target population included university undergraduate and postgraduate students in universities in North-Central Nigeria. The sample comprised five hundred and seventy students across three types of institutions in Nigeria (i.e. private, state, and federal-owned institutions), drawn using proportionate and cluster sampling techniques. Data were collected using a researcher-designed and validated questionnaire with an overall reliability index of 0.86. The collected data were analysed descriptively, and non-parametric inferential statistics were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. Students were ready to use educational apps for studying, engage with immersive tech tools while learning, learn about IoT as part of their learning trajectories for 4IR compliance, embrace many technological innovations while learning, and engage in lifelong learning. Moderately technology-ready students had significant gender, age, institution, and degree of study demographics. Also, given the contemporary 4IR reality, pupils were somewhat ready for technology-enhanced education and positively inclined toward technology-driven abilities. Group dynamics are crucial to preparation. Therefore, it is recommended that students be given the opportunity to improve their technical abilities to prepare them for meaningful teaching and learning. This can be done by investing in technology, training students, and passing regulations that support worldwide competitive online learning
A literature review of health and mental well-being indicators and its assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa (2014-2022)
Full text linkBACKGROUND : Multiple factors shape health and mental well-being (MWB). These factors are
considered indicators for a holistic assessment of the well-being construct. Analyzing existing
literature on indicators related to health and MWB is necessary to support a comprehensive
evaluation in the sub-Saharan African context to assess and improve the population’s health and
MWB.
METHODS : This study is a literature review conducted by adapting the POWER framework
while leveraging the Web of Science (WoS) database, complemented with random Google-led
searches. Leveraging the POWER framework, this paper reviewed related literature on mental
health and well-being (HWB) to provide a framework for action.
RESULTS : Going through the planning, writing, and reflection phases, of the POWER framework,
the WoS database search produced 22 pieces of literature published in South Africa from 2014 to
2022 and 5 pieces of literature published in Nigeria from 2019 to 2022 with 26 manuscripts across
higher institutions in South Africa and eight manuscripts with various organizations. The study
revealed abilities to realize potential, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively
and fruitfully, and meaningful community engagement as some of the crucial mental health
indicators. The reviewed literature revealed that MWB as a multi-phased construct is fast gaining
attention in sub-Saharan African contexts.
CONCLUSION : This study concluded that mental HWB assessment has multiple indicators
being largely deployed linearly using Western-developed or validated assessment instruments.
Therefore, an adaptive health and MWB assessment with a more accurate assessment capacity
should be developed as a transdicsiplinary illness prevention intervention.The Carnegie Corporation of New York/Future Africa Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa.https://jrh.gmu.ac.ir/am2024PsychologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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