Amin Mousavi

Double-faced rough sets and rough communication

This paper shows that each rough set can be evaluated from two different aspects which may be considered as two facets of rough sets. One refers to the conceptual meaning of each rough set, e.g., we say that the concept of lion is included in the concept of animal and the concept of animal has a higher order of inclusion than the concept of lion. The second one refers to the amount of knowledge that each rough set exhibits, e.g., a zoologist may consider a more informative rough set for the concept of lion (he considers more kinds of lions in his set) than a rough set which proposed by a nonspecialist person. So, the first facet views the theory of rough set as an extension of the classical set theory in terms of the three-valued logic which is a proper tool of reasoning and decision making based on a solitary source of information. The second facet concerns the ability of rough set theory to knowledge manipulation and reduction among several information sources such that we do not care the soundness or falsity of the available information. We show that the second facet is the salient characteristic of rough sets which has the capability of being extended more in new application areas. As a result, we present a new extension of rough sets called rough communication as a proper tool of dealing with several information sources. At the end, we refer to some interesting mathematical symmetries between two facets which may be used to propose new extensions.

Explore the Usefulness of Person-Fit Analysis on Large-Scale Assessment

The current study applied the person-fit statistic, lz, to data from a Canadian provincial achievement test to explore the usefulness of conducting person-fit analysis on large-scale assessments. Item parameter estimates were compared before and after the misfitting student responses, as identified by lz, were removed. The changes of item parameter estimates were found to be noticeable for some items. In addition, analyses were conducted to identify student and class factors associated with misfitting responses. Hierarchical linear modeling was used due to the hierarchical structure of the data. Although student-level and class-level variables were found as statistically significant predictors of the degree of person-fit as indicated by the values of lz, the percentage of variability accounted for by these variables was considerably small—only 3.65%.

The Sound Access Parent Outcomes Instrument (SAPOI): Construction of a new instrument for children with severe multiple disabilities who use cochlear implants or hearing aids

Objective: To report on the Phase 2 development of the Sound Access Parent Outcomes Instrument (SAPOI), a new instrument focused on formalizing outcomes that parents of children with severe multiple disabilities (SMD) who use amplification prioritize as important. Methods: Phase 2 of this project involved item selection and refinement of the SAPOI based on (a) Phase 1 study participant input, (b) clinical specialist feedback, and (c) test–retest instrument reliability. Phase 1 participant responses were utilized to construct a draft version of the SAPOI. Next, clinical specialists examined the instrument for content validity and utility and instrument reliability was examined through a test–retest process with parents of children with SMD. Results: The draft SAPOI was constructed based on Phase 1 participant input. Clinical specialists supported content validity and utility of the instrument and the inclusion of 19 additional items across four categories, namely Child Affect, Child Interaction, Parent Well-being, and Childs Device Use. The SAPOI was completed twice at one-month intervals by parents of children with SMD to examine instrument reliability across the four categories (Child Affect, Child Interaction, Parent Well-being, and Childs Device Use). Instrument reliability was strong-to-excellent across all four sections. Discussion: The SAPOI shows promise as a much-needed addition to the assessment battery currently used for children with SMD who use cochlear implants and hearing aids. It provides valuable information regarding outcomes resulting from access to sound in this population that currently used assessments do not identify.

A Canadian Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Student Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory.

The psychometric properties of the Student Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI) were examined using a sample of 404 Grade 6 students from an urban Canadian school system. Students completed the SMALSI and school factors included final school grades, attendance records, and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies results from Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs). Confirmatory factor analysis of SMALSI demonstrated less than adequate fit for each individual SMALSI factor though with some covariance of similar items, the model fit approached acceptable limits for most factors. Results generally confirmed that the SMALSI subscales were significantly related to all of the achievement variables including PAT results and final school grades. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that writing and research skills, test-taking skills, low motivation, and test anxiety all contributed to the prediction of PAT results. Test anxiety was a significant predictor of achievement across all subject areas. Canadian Grade 6 students demonstrated lower motivation, less test anxiety, and fewer attention problems but were otherwise comparable with the U.S. sample. Results provide convergent evidence supporting the psychometric properties of the SMALSI with a Canadian sample; however, there is some room to improve the overall model fit in subsequent revisions of this measure.

Children’s language exposure and parental language attitudes in Russian-as-a-heritage-language acquisition by bilingual and multilingual children in Canada

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The research study presented in this paper aims to describe some aspects of the maintenance of Russian as a heritage language among bilingual/multilingual children in Saskatchewan, Canada. The study focuses on the relationship between parents’ language attitudes and children’s language exposure on the one hand and child language proficiency on the other hand. The research questions are as follows. What are the language attitudes of Russian-speaking parents in minority settings? Is there a connection between parents’ language attitudes and children’s language proficiency? What is the scope of Russian language exposure of bilingual/multilingual children within and outside of the family? Is there a connection between this exposure and children’s language proficiency? Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted within a Variationist Sociolinguistics framework. The following methods were employed in the study: a questionnaire study of parents’ language attitudes and of language use within and outside the family; an assessment of children’s speech production based on narratives elicited from children with the help of pictures (language proficiency parameters). Data and Analysis: Thirty parents (aged 31–43) and children (aged 5–7) participated in the study. The questionnaire addressed to parents included 52 demographic and research questions. A statistical analysis of parents’ language attitudes and language use by parents and their children as measured against language proficiency parameters was conducted with the help of correlation analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Study results indicate that Russian-speaking parents in Saskatchewan are interested in passing Russian to their children. The study also suggests that language exposure parameters, as well as language attitudes held by parents, correlate with children’s heritage language fluency. Originality: The study indicates that even in environments unfavorable for heritage language maintenance, a child can still successfully acquire Russian as a heritage language. Significance/Implications: The study clarifies the set of parameters relevant for heritage language maintenance among bilingual/multilingual children. It also suggests the importance of bilingualism/multilingualism for some groups of the immigrant population in Canada.

Assessment of Differential Item Functioning in Health-Related Outcomes: A Simulation and Empirical Analysis with Hierarchical Polytomous Data

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two methods of detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in the presence of multilevel data and polytomously scored items. The assessment of DIF with multilevel data (e.g., patients nested within hospitals, hospitals nested within districts) from large-scale assessment programs has received considerable attention but very few studies evaluated the effect of hierarchical structure of data on DIF detection for polytomously scored items. Methods The ordinal logistic regression (OLR) and hierarchical ordinal logistic regression (HOLR) were utilized to assess DIF in simulated and real multilevel polytomous data. Six factors (DIF magnitude, grouping variable, intraclass correlation coefficient, number of clusters, number of participants per cluster, and item discrimination parameter) with a fully crossed design were considered in the simulation study. Furthermore, data of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) 4.0 collected from 576 healthy school children were analyzed. Results Overall, results indicate that both methods performed equivalently in terms of controlling Type I error and detection power rates. Conclusions The current study showed negligible difference between OLR and HOLR in detecting DIF with polytomously scored items in a hierarchical structure. Implications and considerations while analyzing real data were also discussed.