1,721,078 research outputs found
Targeting data collection in games based assessment
No full textEducational game performance data has the potential to allow new types of complex, procedural skills to be assessed. However, prior work has shown that gameplay data do not readily align to existing assessment validation paradigms, and game performance scores are difficult to use for proficiency testing. A new assessment paradigm that can cope with the nature of gameplay data has not emerged. In this paper, we uncovered a range of structural issues in data collection caused by, and potentially solved by, the engineered environments in games. Choice and the iterative nature of games were found to allow curriculum specialisation. We found evidence that early attempts at new games are lessreliable and perhaps best discarded, and we propose a solution to weight scores to reflect novelty in repeated tasks. We found capturing the effect of competitor or collaborator ability on performance challenging but propose the potential for bots to resolve this. Finally, we also investigated the use of response time as a proxy for ability. The physical measure of time proved difficult and potentiallyunfair to use, but we propose a possible stochastic treatment of speed that could allow scoring some skills in some games using response time
Scoring games fairly: Biases and interference in games based assessment
No full textGaming is an interactive medium that has much in common with education. Both games and good classroom practice are learning environments, with overall objectives, scaffolded progression, checks along the way, and regular, purposeful feedback. Games also provide a space to practice complex skills such as collaboration, or managing a system. These skills are rarely directly assessed in compulsory education because they are difficult to evidence efficiently. Games are fun learning environments for many children, and they could provide a means to resolve this problem. However, the structure of gaming data is not aligned to many assessment analysis methods. Gaming data is conditionally dependent, there are continuous variables as well as categorical and dichotomous responses, there is often more than one possible proxy for ability, and there are very large amounts of data missing. Aspects that assessors traditionally force to be constants, such as the number of attempts or the response time, become variables in games, and it is important to know their limitations and worth as variables. This interdisciplinary study looks at these problems in scoring performance in games. It uses a quantitative methodology, with a case study secondary data set from MangaHigh. MangaHigh is a website with a range of dynamic maths games for primary and secondary aged learners, and over a million children were using the site at the time of data extraction. Using a sample data set, chosen by criterion sampling, the impact of missing data, response times and additional attempts was explored through insights and methods from Item Response Theory (IRT) and other quantitative analysis techniques. Demographic data also helped to contextualize the findings and inform decision-making. In the analysis, choice of game mechanics were found to have an impact on the extent and nature of missing data, which was found to have a complex relationship with the target variable, ability. The choice of measure, such as mean, recency-weighted mean, high score or most recent score was found to be central to determining the grade. Several issues when the child competed against a human or bot competitor or collaborator were identified. Response time functioned as a context variable to define valid attempts, helping to identify non-targeted behaviours such as browsing, conceding or wandering off. As gamers have suggested, response time appeared to also function as a proxy for ability, but there does not seem to be a linear relationship between ability and time. Instead, ‘speed’ seems to be the proxy, and this was found to be a function of the response time, the child, the game and also the band score and game mechanics. Outside of an optimal range, short response times could act as a confounding variable. There was evidence that some stability of performance may also act a proxy of ability. Finally, adding a familiarity weighting when a child comes back for a second attempt proved problematic, but a novelty weighting for early attempts can work. Having said that, although games became easier with each subsequent attempt, evidence from the first attempt playing appears unreliable, and the data has features that are characteristic of guessing behaviour. Although a large number of problems were identified, this analysis also found some clear ways forward to adjust the assessment and games design, and the collection of data to make scores from games more meaningful and reduce bias in the scoring process. On the basis of this study, there are many design choices that could improve or deteriorate the quality of data gathered in gaming environments
Measuring optimism bias among military personnel
No full textHigh numbers of young military personnel die due to road traffic collisions (RTCs). Yet, there is a paucity of research related to the contributing factors (i.e., optimism bias and willingness to take risks) associated with RTCs and the examination of road safety education program tailored at reducing young military fatalities. In order to address this gap in the literature, we examined one specific road safety educational intervention tailored for the UK military personnel and investigated their attitudes towards the program, optimism bias and willingness to take risks. Measures evaluating their optimism bias, willingness to take risks and attitudes towards the program were asked after the participants attended the road safety interventions. The results revealed that young military personnel, aged 18-25, had higher optimism bias and willingness to take risks compared to older military personnel, and that this effect diminishes with age. The results provide importance evidence related to military personnel’s attitudes to risk-taking
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
Reducing optimism bias in the driver’s seat: comparing two interventions
No full textOptimism bias combined with sensation-seeking and risky driving have been proposed to be the main contributing factors to young drivers’ involvement in road traffic collisions. The present study aimed to evaluate how two brief interventions, one based on an unambiguous definition of “good” driving and the other on a hazard perception test, might reduce young drivers’ optimism bias. One hundred and twenty-eight university students were randomly allocated to one of three groups: standard definition, hazard perception or control. Measures evaluating optimism bias were completed before and after the intervention, and questions regarding their sensation-seeking and past risk-taking tendencies were asked at follow-up. Both brief interventions reduced optimism bias levels, but hazard perception had the strongest effect. The effectiveness of the two interventions also differed across individuals depending on their sensation-seeking and past risky driving tendencies. The results provide evidence for the effectiveness of brief interventions to reduce optimism bias
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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