Search

The Internet has been a popular source of data amongst academic researchers for many years, and for good reason. Online data collection is fast, provides access to hard-to-reach populations, and is often less expensive than in-lab recruitment. With these benefits also come risks, such as duplicate responses or participant inattention, which can significantly reduce data quality. Very recently, researchers have become aware of another concern associated with online data collection. Bots, also known as automatic survey-takers or fraudsters, have begun infiltrating scientific surveys, largely threatening the integrity of academic research conducted online. The aim of this paper is to warn researchers of the threat posed by bots and to highlight practical strategies that can be used to detect and prevent these bots. We first discuss strategies recommended in the literature that we implemented to identify bot responses from online survey data we collected in the past six months. We then share which strategies proved to be most and least effective in detecting bots. Finally, we discuss the implications of bot-generated data for the integrity of online research and the imminent future of bots in online data collection.

This study investigates the correlates of statistics anxiety. Considering that statistics anxiety and spatial anxiety have been separately correlated with related constructs (e.g., mathematics anxiety, academic performance, etc.), the possibility that spatial anxiety plays a role in statistics anxiety is explored. When facing statistics or mathematics operations, people may imagine or visualize the task operations they must do to obtain the result. To examine this hypothesis, 778 students in a Social or Health Sciences program, enrolled in a--often mandatory--statistics course from Canadian, French and Belgian universities completed an online survey. The results show moderate to strong positive correlations between all three types of anxiety (spatial, mathematics, and statistics). In addition, a mediation analysis reveals the intermediate role played by mathematics anxiety in the relationship between spatial and statistics anxieties. Nonetheless, the direct link from spatial anxiety to statistics anxiety is non-negligible in the model. Finally, the results also indicate that women report higher levels of statistics anxiety, which may be partly explained by their higher level of spatial anxiety.

Comparison shopping is good financial practice, but situations involving numbers and computations are challenging for consumers with math anxiety. We asked North Americans (N = 256) to select the better deal between two products differing in volume and price. As predicted, math anxiety was negatively related to performance on this Price Comparison Task. We then explored the mechanism underlying this relation by testing math competency, price calculation ability, need for cognition, and cognitive reflection as potential mediators. The results from a competing mediator analysis indicated that all factors, apart from need for cognition, served as significant independent mediators between math anxiety and performance on our Price Comparison Task. This study has important implications for how--and why--math anxiety relates to a person's ability to accurately compare product prices. These data suggest that consumers higher in math anxiety may represent a financially vulnerable population, particularly in the context of financial tasks that are inherently mathematical.

Children's knowledge of the ordinal relations among number symbols is related to their mathematical learning. Ordinal knowledge has been measured using judgment (i.e., decide whether a sequence of three digits is in order) and ordering tasks (i.e., order three digits from smallest to largest). However, the question remains whether performance on these two ordinal tasks tap into similar cognitive processes. Canadian children (N = 87; Age M = 8.7 years, Grade 3) completed symbolic number tasks (i.e., number comparison, ordering, and order judgment) and measures of arithmetic fluency (i.e., addition and subtraction) and working memory (i.e., digit span backward). For both ordinal tasks, there was a reverse distance effect for ordered sequences such that children responded faster to adjacent than to non-adjacent sequences (e.g., 2 3 4 vs. 4 7 9) and a canonical distance effect for unordered sequences such that children responded faster to non-adjacent than to adjacent sequences (e.g., 4 2 3 vs. 4 9 7). Working memory and number comparison each predicted unique variance in the ordinal measures (ordering, order judgment, and a latent ordinal factor based on the two measures). Furthermore, ordinal skills superseded the role of number comparison as the key predictor of arithmetic, controlling for children's gender and working memory skills. In summary, although both ordering and order judgment tasks index ordinal knowledge, a latent factor that excludes task-specific error may be a better index than either task separately.

Prior research shows that when parents monitor, check, and assist in completing homework without an invitation, their children's motivation and academic achievement often decline. We propose that intrusive support from parents might also send the message that children are incompetent, especially if they believe their intelligence is fixed. We tested whether children's mindsets moderate the negative link between parents' intrusive homework support and achievement among first- and second-grade students followed for one academic year (Study 1, N = 563) and middle and high school students for two academic years (Study 2, N = 1,613). The samples were obtained from large urban areas in the United States. In both studies, intrusive homework support more strongly predicted a decrease in achievement over time for children with a fixed mindset. These findings suggest that the belief that intellectual ability cannot be changed may exacerbate the detrimental effects of uninvited help on academic work.

American adolescents consume more sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) than any other age group. Sports and energy drinks consumption among adolescents is higher than other SSBs. For sports drinks, there is uncertainty about their "healthiness" and also beliefs that these drinks may provide health benefits such as hydration, enhanced athletic performance, heightened mental alertness, and rapid recovery after exercise. Confusion about relative healthiness and expectations of health benefits suggest that factors that may encourage youth to avoid drinking sports and energy drinks, such as athletic status, psychological reactance, and SSB media literacy, may necessitate different approaches to promoting avoidance of sports drinks compared with avoidance of energy drinks. Using a nationally representative U.S. probability-based web panel augmented by a volunteer nonprobability-based web panel of 500 adolescent participants aged 14 to 18 years, we used the reasoned action approach to model intention to avoid sports and to avoid energy drinks. The result show there are similarities and differences in the determinants associated with adolescents' avoidance of sports and energy drinks: attitudes and descriptive normative pressure are both related to increased avoidance for both types of drinks and perceived control over the avoidance behavior is positively associated for with intention to avoid for energy drinks. Sport identification, psychological reactance, and SSB media literacy also play a different role in the sports and energy drink models. Based on our results, the content of prevention messages in interventions to limit sports drinks will need to be quite different from those targeted at reducing energy drink consumption.

Background: In the USA, lower income minority ethnic children and teenagers report high consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, which cause dental erosion and dental carries, and play a significant role in overweight, obesity and diabetes. Objective: This study aimed to examine urban adolescents' beliefs about sports and energy drinks to identify factors for health messaging to discourage youth consumption. Design: Focus group study involves 34 adolescents in urban areas (12 women, 12 men and 10 unreported sex; 19 Hispanic, 11 non-Hispanic Black, 2 Asian and 2 unknown race or ethnicity). Setting: Four focus groups were conducted with adolescents in urban areas. Method: Each on-time moderated group discussion was structured to generate an inventory of attitudinal, normative and efficacy beliefs associated with sports and energy drink consumption and reduction. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Attitudinal and normative beliefs were more positive towards sports drink consumption and energy drink reduction. Misperceptions about the need for sports drinks to avoid dehydration during physical activity were evident. Product accessibility and advertising pervasiveness were facilitators influencing consumption and barriers to reduction for both products. Conclusion: Results highlight important differences in perceptions about sports and energy drinks that indicate the need for different approaches and messages for interventions designed to curb consumption of these products. Recommendations for message design are provided.

Previous research has shown that math homework help of higher-math-anxious parents impedes children's math learning and facilitates the development of math anxiety. In the present study, we explored a possible explanation for this phenomenon by examining the relations between parents' math anxiety, their math homework-helping styles (i.e., autonomy- and controlling-supportive), and their child's math achievement. Parents of children ages 11 to 14 completed an online survey. Using path analysis, we examined the relations among parental factors (i.e., math anxiety, math ability, and homework-helping styles) and child math achievement. Parents' math anxiety was positively related to both autonomy-supportive and controlling-supportive math homework-helping styles. Notably, controlling-supportive style partially mediated the relation between parents' math anxiety and their children's math achievement. Thus, it is possible that the use of a controlling-supportive math homework-helping style may explain why the homework help offered by higher-math-anxious parents is detrimental to their children's math learning. Identifying negative relations between parent factors and children's math outcomes is crucial for developing evidence-based math learning interventions.

Wearing a face mask is effective in minimizing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among unvaccinated individuals and preventing severe illness among the vaccinated. Country, state and local guidelines promote, and at times mandate, mask-wearing despite it being publicly perceived as an individual's choice. Guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM), structural equation modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data in a sample of US adults aged 18-49 years to identify constructs that contribute to face mask-wearing. Results indicated that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived masking benefits and self-efficacy were positively associated with masking behavior, and masking barriers were negatively associated with masking behavior. Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and cues to action were nonsignificant correlates of masking behavior. These results' theoretical and practical implications contribute to the literature on the HBM and the COVID-19 pandemic. Future directions and limitations are discussed.

Canadian students enrolled in either French-immersion or English-instruction programs were followed from Grades 2 to 3 (M[subscript age] = 7.8 years to 8.9 years; N = 244; 55% girls). In each grade, students completed two mathematical tasks that required oral language processing (i.e., word-problem solving and number transcoding from dictation) and two that did not (i.e., arithmetic fluency and number line estimation). Students in both English-instruction (n = 92) and French-immersion programs (n = 152) completed tasks in English. Students in French-immersion programs also completed word-problem solving and transcoding tasks in French. The models were framed within the Pathways to Mathematics model, with a focus on the linguistic pathways for students in English-instruction and French-immersion programs. For tasks with oral language processing, performance in Grade 3 was predicted by students' English receptive vocabulary for both English-instruction and French-immersion students, even when French-immersion students were tested in French, controlling for performance in Grade 2. In contrast, for tasks without oral language processing, receptive vocabulary in either English or French did not predict performance in Grade 3, controlling for performance in Grade 2. These results have implications for teaching mathematics within the context of immersion education.

Language skills play an important role in mathematics development. Students (7 to 10 years of age) learning school mathematics either in the same language used at home (first-language learners; n = 103) or in a different language (second-language learners; n = 57) participated in the study. Relations among cognitive skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, working memory, quantitative skills), domain-specific language skills (i.e., mathematical vocabulary, mathematical orthography), word-problem solving, arithmetic fluency, and word reading were investigated. Second-language learners had lower scores on measures with strong language components (i.e., receptive vocabulary, subitizing, and word-problem solving) than first-language learners, whereas they performed equally well on other tasks. Mathematical vocabulary and receptive vocabulary contributed to word-problem solving success for first-language learners, whereas only receptive vocabulary in the language of instruction related to mathematical outcomes for second-language learners. Mathematical vocabulary was related to arithmetic fluency for both groups, but mathematical orthography was not. For both groups, students' word reading was predicted by receptive vocabulary but not by quantitative skills, highlighting the domain-specific nature of these skills. These findings have implications for supporting mathematical learning in second-language students.

Math anxiety is a common correlate of math performance. However, the causal direction of this relation is unclear.Research with young students is limited but critical for determining patterns of development. Students (N = 147) completedmath measures (i.e., number comparison, arithmetic fluency, and math problem solving) and math anxiety assessmentstwice, first in grade 2 (Mage = 7 years:10 months) and then a year later in grade 3. Correlational analysis revealed thatmath anxiety is related only to arithmetic fluency, related to other types of math performance. Cross-lagged analyses wereconducted to evaluate causal relations between math anxiety and arithmetic fluency. These analyses showed that arithmeticfluency in grade 2 predicted change in math anxiety from grade 2 to grade 3, however, math anxiety in grade 2 did notpredict the change in arithmetic fluency from grade 2 to grade 3. These results suggest that math anxiety may be the resultof poor math performance.

In the present research, we provide empirical evidence for the process of symbolic integration of number associations, focusing on the development of simple addition (e.g., 5 + 3 = 8), subtraction (e.g., 5 - 3 = 2), and multiplication (e.g., 5 × 3 = 15). Canadian children were assessed twice, in Grade 2 and Grade 3 (N = 244; 55% girls). All families were English-speaking, and parent education levels ranged from high school to postgraduate, with a median of community college. In Grade 2, children completed general cognitive tasks (i.e., receptive vocabulary, working memory, nonverbal reasoning, and inhibitory control). In both grades, children completed single-digit addition and complementary subtraction problems. In Grade 3, they completed single-digit multiplication problems and measures of applied mathematics, specifically, word-problem solving, algebra, and measurement. We found that addition and subtraction were reciprocally related (controlling for cognitive skills). Subtraction fluency predicted multiplication in Grade 3, whereas addition fluency did not. In Grade 3, both subtraction and multiplication fluency were predictors of applied mathematics, with multiplication partially mediating the relation between subtraction and applied mathematics performance. These findings support the view that learning arithmetic associations is a hierarchical process. As students practice each new skill, individual differences reflect the integration of the novel component into the developing associative network.

A solid foundation in math is important for children's long-term academic success. Many factors influence children's math learning--including the math content students are taught in school, the quality of their instruction, and the math attitudes of students' teachers. Using a large and diverse sample of first-grade students (n = 551), we conducted a large-scale replication of a previous study (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2010, 1860; n = 117), which found that girls in classes with highly math anxious teachers learned less math during the school year, as compared to girls whose math teachers were less anxious about math. With a larger sample, we found a negative relation between teachers' math anxiety and students' math achievement for both girls and boys, even after accounting for teachers' math ability and children's beginning of year math knowledge, replicating and extending those previous results. Our findings strengthen the support for the hypothesis that teachers' math anxiety is one factor that undermines children's math learning and could push students off-track during their initial exposure to math in early elementary school.

Learning to read is a critical but often challenging academic task for young children. In the current study, we explore the relation between children's reading affect--particularly anxiety--and reading achievement in the early years of reading acquisition. We hypothesized that reading anxiety would relate to reading achievement across the school year and that boys and girls might show differential patterns in the relation between reading anxiety and achievement due to the common stereotype that boys underperform in reading. A sample of first and second grade students completed measures of reading anxiety, positive reading affect, math achievement, and reading achievement in the fall and spring. Results show that reading anxiety and reading achievement share a bi-directional relation in which fall reading anxiety predicts spring reading achievement and vice versa. Furthermore, the pattern of relation between reading anxiety and achievement differs by gender: boys appear more susceptible to the reciprocal damaging effects of reading anxiety on reading achievement across the school year. Finally, reading achievement shares a stronger relation with reading anxiety than with positive reading affect, perhaps because of the phenomenon in which negative relative to positive experiences have a greater psychological impact.

Mathematics anxiety is a pervasive issue in education that requires attention from both educators and researchers to help students reach their full academic potential. This review provides an overview of past research that has investigated the association between math anxiety and math achievement, factors that can cause math anxiety, characteristics of students that can increase their susceptibility to math anxiety, and efforts that educators can take to remedy math anxiety. We also derive a new Interpretation Account of math anxiety, which we use to argue the importance of understanding appraisal processes in the development and treatment of math anxiety. In conclusion, gaps in the literature are reviewed in addition to suggestions for future research that can help improve the field's understanding of this important issue.

School-entry math achievement is a strong predictor of math achievement through high school. We asked whether reciprocal relations among math achievement, math anxiety, and entity motivational frameworks (believing that ability is fixed and a focus on performance) can help explain these persistent individual differences. We assessed 1st and 2nd graders' (N = 634) math achievement, motivational frameworks, and math anxiety 2 times, 6 months apart. Cross-lagged path analyses showed reciprocal relations between math anxiety and math achievement and between motivational frameworks and math achievement. Entity motivational frameworks predicted higher math anxiety. High math achievement was a particularly strong predictor of lower math anxiety and less entity-oriented motivational frameworks. We concluded that reciprocal effects are already present in the first 2 years of formal schooling, with math achievement and attitudes feeding off one another to produce either a vicious or virtuous cycle. Improving both math performance and math attitudes may set children onto a long-lasting, positive trajectory in math.

There are insufficient toxicity data to assess the ecological risks of many pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). While data limitations are not uncommon for contaminants of environmental concern, PPCPs are somewhat unique in that an a priori understanding of their biological activities in conjunction with measurements of molecular, biochemical, or histological responses could provide a foundation for understanding mode(s) of action and predicting potential adverse apical effects. Over the past decade significant progress has been made in the development of new approach methodologies (NAMs) to efficiently quantify these types of endpoints using computational models and pathway‐based in vitro and in vivo assays. The availability of open‐access knowledgebases to curate biological response (including NAM) data and sophisticated bioinformatics tools to help interpret the information also has significantly increased. Finally, advances in the development and implementation of the adverse outcome pathway framework provide the critical conceptual underpinnings needed to translate NAM data into predictions of the ecologically relevant outcomes required by risk assessors and managers. The evolution and convergence of these various data streams, tools, and concepts provides the basis for a fundamental change in how ecological risks of PPCPs can be pragmatically assessed. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:537–548. © 2022 SETAC. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcoding is the process of translating between spoken and written numbers, and it is correlated with other mathematical skills. In the present study, we investigated the link between French number writing of 49 students in the third grade (aged 7–9 years) and their language skills. Transcoding in French is of particular interest because the spoken number language system does not completely correspond to that of the written digits (e.g., quatre-vingt-dix [four-twenty-ten] and 90). We hypothesised that the complex linguistic structure of spoken numbers in French would be challenging for students who are learning to transcode. First and second French-language learners' accuracy and errors were recorded during a writing task of 3- to 7-digit numbers. Children also completed linguistic tests (e.g., receptive vocabulary, receptive syntax). Results showed that first- and second-language learners did not differ in their transcoding accuracy. Number size, decade complexity of stimulus number words in French (i.e., numbers containing a complex decade, operationalized as a number between soixante-dix, 70, and quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, 99), and receptive vocabulary predicted children's French transcoding skills. Students were more likely to produce errors (e.g., 68 or 6018 for 78) when they transcoded complex decade numbers compared with simple decade numbers. When an error was made on the complex decade portion of a number, it was likely a lexical error. In conclusion, third graders, both first- and second-language learners, found complex decade numbers challenging and their performance was related to their general vocabulary skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is marked by divisions in perceptions of disease severity as well as misperceptions about the virus and vaccine that vary along ideological and political party lines. Perceptual differences may be due to differences in the information about the virus that individuals are exposed to within their own identity-affirming ideological news bubbles. This content analysis of six different national network transcripts highlights differences in coverage of severity, and the prevalence of misinformation and its correction that are consistent with previously established preferred news channels of conservatives/Republicans and liberals/Democrats and their perceptions and misperceptions about the pandemic. Results contribute to the growing body of country-specific COVID-19 media studies that allow for comparisons across nations with different cultures and media systems, as these factors play a pivotal role in national responses and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's‐focused participant recruitment registries are tools for accelerating enrollment into studies, however, registry members are primarily White women. METHODS: We conducted a national online survey of 1501 adults ages 50–80, oversampling for Black and Hispanic/Latino respondents, assessing intention to join a generic "brain health" registry and to join a registry that required specific tasks. RESULTS: Intention to join a registry was low (M 3.48, SD 1.77), and lower than intention to join a registry requiring specific tasks. Intention was greatest for registries requiring completing surveys (M 4.70, SD 1.77). Differences in intention were primarily between White women and Black women; differences between other groups were limited to specific tasks required. DISCUSSION: The results indicate uncertainty about what a registry is, its purpose, and/or the concept of "brain health." Using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) to develop evidence‐based outreach messages describing a registry and required tasks may increase diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding why sports and energy drinks remain increasingly popular among adolescents despite declines in other sugar sweetened beverages is critical. This study points to memory for advertising exposure and adolescent athletic identity as two aspects that together help to explain consumption. An online survey of U.S. adolescents aged 14–18 (n = 503) was combined with Nielsen data for television and social media advertising expenditures by sports and energy drink brands in participants' designated market areas (DMAs). Advertisement recall mediates the relationship between social media DMA expenditures and sports and energy drink consumption. Recall for television advertisements is related to consumption but is unrelated to television DMA expenditures. Athletic identity moderated the relationship between recall and consumption such that consumption increased as both recall and athletic identity increased, suggesting a role for motivated memory and motivated processing of ad messages based on athletic identity consistent with the limited capacity model of motivated media message processing. Based on these results, we conclude that effectiveness of expenditures in influencing behavior is dependent upon both ad recall and ad relevance, and that athletic identity is an important factor in ad effectiveness in the context of sports and energy drinks advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]