The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) created a consensus-based framework consisting of phenotypic and etiologic criteria to record the occurrence of malnutrition in adults. This is ...a minimum set of practicable indicators for use in characterizing a patient/client as malnourished, considering the global variations in screening and nutrition assessment, and to be used across different health care settings. As with other consensus-based frameworks for diagnosing disease states, these operational criteria require validation and reliability testing as they are currently based solely on expert opinion.
Several forms of validation and reliability are reviewed in the context of GLIM, providing guidance on how to conduct retrospective and prospective studies for criterion and construct validity.
There are some aspects of GLIM criteria which require refinement; research using large data bases can be employed to reach this goal. Machine learning is also introduced as a potential method to support identification of the best cut-points and combinations of operational criteria for use with the different forms of malnutrition, which the GLIM criteria were created to denote. It is noted as well that the validation and reliability testing need to occur in a variety of sectors, populations and with diverse persons completing the criteria.
The guidance presented supports the conduct and publication of quality validation and reliability studies for GLIM.
Citations are increasingly used as performance indicators in research policy and within the research system. Usually, citations are assumed to reflect the impact of the research or its quality. What ...is the justification for these assumptions and how do citations relate to research quality? These and similar issues have been addressed through several decades of scientometric research. This article provides an overview of some of the main issues at stake, including theories of citation and the interpretation and validity of citations as performance measures. Research quality is a multidimensional concept, where plausibility/soundness, originality, scientific value, and societal value commonly are perceived as key characteristics. The article investigates how citations may relate to these various research quality dimensions. It is argued that citations reflect aspects related to scientific impact and relevance, although with important limitations. On the contrary, there is no evidence that citations reflect other key dimensions of research quality. Hence, an increased use of citation indicators in research evaluation and funding may imply less attention to these other research quality dimensions, such as solidity/plausibility, originality, and societal value.
Qualitative research has grown within sport and exercise psychology and is now widely conducted. The purpose of this review is to discuss three commonly used ways to demonstrate rigor when conducting ...or judging qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology. These are the method of member checking, the method of inter-rater reliability, and the notion of universal criteria. Problems with each method are first highlighted. Member checking and inter-rater reliability are shown to be ineffective for verification, trustworthiness, or reliability purposes. Next, universal criteria within the context of Tracy's, heavily drawn on paper within sport and exercise psychology is problematized. Throughout the discussion of each method and universal criteria more suitable possibilities for conducting rigorous qualitative research are offered. The paper concludes that to support high-quality qualitative research, scholars - including journal editors and reviewers - need to change how rigor is developed and judged, rather than perpetuate the problems with how it has been commonly evaluated in the past. Recommendations for developing rigor when conducting and/or judging qualitative research within sport and exercise psychology are also offered.
•The research needed for tenure or promotion in accounting is unclear.•We evaluate faculty research from universities with a Ph.D. or Masters in accounting.•Quality measured by Australian Business ...Dean’s Council and accounting journal lists.•Our research provides valuable input for decisions about accounting faculty research.•We categorize research records by university type and main accounting subdisciplines.
The quantity and quality of research articles required to attain tenure or to be promoted in accounting is not always known and evolves over time. To help add clarity to this dilemma, this study evaluates the quantity and quality of publication records for faculty who successfully achieved tenure or promotion at universities offering Ph.D. and/or Masters programs in accounting. Quality of publication was determined based on a number of metrics including the Australian Business Dean’s Council journal list (ABDC), which is now widely used for tenure and promotion decisions as well as for accreditation purposes, and the BYU rankings of accounting journals. We are one of the first empirical studies to use the ABDC to determine research quality. Our analysis shows that for tenure decisions, accounting faculty at Ph.D. granting institutions publish, on average, fewer articles than accounting faculty at Masters universities, but those published articles are at much higher quality journals. In addition, both tenured and promoted faculty at private universities publish significantly more in high quality accounting journals than faculty at public universities. Collectively, our results indicate that research quality and quantity differ between universities that grant Ph.Ds. in accounting and those that only offer a Masters degree in accounting, and between public and private universities. More importantly, our research provides quantity and quality expectations for tenure and promotion cases that can be used by accounting faculty, administrators, and external reviewers across different types of universities. Given that our results are based on historical data and tenure/promotion requirements tend to continually increase over time, this study’s results should only be used as a guide for future tenure and promotion cases.
In this comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of group design studies of nonpharmacological early interventions designed for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we report ...summary effects across 7 early intervention types (behavioral, developmental, naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention NDBI, TEACCH, sensory-based, animal-assisted, and technology-based), and 15 outcome categories indexing core and related ASD symptoms. A total of 1,615 effect sizes were gathered from 130 independent participant samples. A total of 6,240 participants, who ranged in age from 0-8 years, are represented across the studies. We synthesized effects within intervention and outcome type using a robust variance estimation approach to account for the nesting of effect sizes within studies. We also tracked study quality indicators, and report an additional set of summary effect sizes that restrict included studies to those meeting prespecified quality indicators. Finally, we conducted moderator analyses to evaluate whether summary effects across intervention types were larger for proximal as compared with distal effects, and for context-bound as compared to generalized effects. We found that when study quality indicators were not taken into account, significant positive effects were found for behavioral, developmental, and NDBI intervention types. When effect size estimation was limited to studies with randomized controlled trial (RCT) designs, evidence of positive summary effects existed only for developmental and NDBI intervention types. This was also the case when outcomes measured by parent report were excluded. Finally, when effect estimation was limited to RCT designs and to outcomes for which there was no risk of detection bias, no intervention types showed significant effects on any outcome.
Public Significance Statement
This comprehensive meta-analysis of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggests that naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions and developmental intervention approaches have amassed enough quality evidence to be considered promising for supporting children with ASD in achieving a range of developmental outcomes. Behavioral intervention approaches also show evidence of effectiveness, but methodological rigor remains a pressing concern in this area of research. There is little evidence to support the effectiveness of TEACCH, sensory-based interventions, animal-assisted interventions, and interventions mediated solely through technology at this time.
Bioerosion: the other ocean acidification problem Schönberg, Christine H. L.; Fang, James K. H.; Carreiro-Silva, Marina ...
ICES journal of marine science,
05/2017, Letnik:
74, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Bioerosion of calcium carbonate is the natural counterpart of biogenic calcification. Both are affected by ocean acidification (OA). We summarize definitions and concepts in bioerosion research and ...knowledge in the context of OA, providing case examples and meta-analyses. Chemically mediated bioerosion relies on energy demanding, biologically controlled undersaturation or acid regulation and increases with simulated OA, as does passive dissolution. Through substrate weakening both processes can indirectly enhance mechanical bioerosion, which is not directly affected by OA. The low attention and expert knowledge on bioerosion produced some ambiguous views and approaches, and limitations to experimental studies restricted opportunities to generalize. Comparability of various bioerosion and calcification rates remains difficult. Physiological responses of bioeroders or interactions of environmental factors are insufficiently studied. We stress the importance to foster and advance high quality bioerosion research as global trends suggest the following: (i) growing environmental change (eutrophication, coral mortality, OA) is expected to elevate bioerosion in the near future; (ii) changes harmful to calcifiers may not be as severe for bioeroders (e.g. warming); and (iii) factors facilitating bioerosion often reduce calcification rates (e.g. OA). The combined result means that the natural process bioerosion has itself become a “stress factor” for reef health and resilience.
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