Kwok-fai Ting

A Multilevel Perspective on Student Ratings of Instruction: Lessons from the Chinese Experience.

With the rise of democratic institutions and the propagation of consumerism in Asia, the teacher-student relationship has undergone fundamental changes. As a response to the demand for public accountability, course evaluation has been recently adopted as routine in universities in Hong Kong, placing Hong Kong in the forefront of this trend in Asia. Few studies in the educational literature examine whether such a practice applies to cultural settings outside the West, particularly in Asia where the teacher-student relationship is often paternalistic. Using a large dataset collected in Hong Kong, this study examines how Chinese students behave in the course evaluation process. Results suggest that Chinese students, like their Western counterparts, are able to distinguish separate dimensions of teaching quality. Due to their cultural background, however, they pay more attention in their evaluations to the personal qualities of their teachers.

Getting Ahead in the Capitalist Paradise: Migration from China and Socioeconomic Attainment in Colonial Hong Kong1

This article examines the initial labor market outcome and the subsequent mobility process of Chinese immigrants in Colonial Hong Kong using complete work history data and event history modeling. Contrary to the rhetoric that Hong Kong is a capitalist paradise for adventurers, the data showed that immigrants were penalized in their initial class placement, subsequent mobility, and current income attainment. Differences in educational attainment and the lack of transferability of pre-migration human capital partly explained the attainment gap between immigrants and the natives. Yet the disadvantage of immigrants was also embedded in the local economic structure. The process of deindustrialization significantly lowered the chance of immigrants getting good first jobs when entering the labor market. Moreover, since deindustrialization benefited the natives by providing them with more opportunities in the service sector, it inadvertently widened the gap in upward mobility chances between natives and immigrants.

Wife Beating in South Africa An Imbalance Theory of Resources and Power

This article develops an imbalance theory to explain physical violence against women in intimate relationships in South Africa. The theory proposes four typologies: dependence, compensation, submission, and transgression, through which imbalances in resource contribution and power distribution between spouses are hypothesized to contribute to violence. The dependence hypothesis suggests that economic dependence of the wife will lead to more violence. The compensation hypothesis argues that the husband will use force to compensate for his inability to live up to the male-provider norm. The submission hypothesis suggests that violence will increase due to the submission of women in male-dominated families. Finally, the transgression hypothesis argues that men in female-dominated families will use force to punish their wives for supposedly transgressing the gender norm of male dominance. Empirical evidence provided some support for the dependence, submission, and transgression hypotheses.

Bootstrapping a Test Statistic for Vanishing Tetrads

Tetrads are differences in the product of pairs of covariances among four random variables. Typically, a structural equation model implies that some population tetrads will “vanish” (equal zero). Bollen and Ting proposed Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis (CTA) to test structural equation models based on their implied vanishing tetrads. The test statistic (Bollen) was derived from asymptotic theory. We analyze it in finite samples using Monte Carlo simulations. The smaller the sample size and the larger the number of vanishing tetrads, the greater the departure of the test statistic from its asymptotic distribution. We develop a bootstrapping procedure for computing the p-value of the CTA test statistic. The bootstrapping procedure generally is more accurate than using the chi-square distribution to compute the p-value of the test statistic in small to moderate sample sizes. Several empirical examples illustrate the bootstrap procedure.

Confirmatory tetrad analysis in SAS

Bollen and Ting (1993) proposed confirmatory tetrad analysis (CTA) as a method for testing structural equation models. CTA holds promise as a complementary method to the conventional model testing methodology. It applies to some underidentified models and nonnested models that cannot be tested in the conventional approach, and it is a noniterative estimator that does not have nonconvergence problems. This article illustrates an SAS macro, named CTA‐SAS, that implements the CTA testing methodology. Essential elements of the test and the syntax of the program are discussed, and an example is used to illustrate the application of the program.

MATERIALISTIC VALUES IN HONG KONG AND GUANGZHOU: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO CHINESE SOCIETIES

This article integrates two competing perspectives on value orientation. Ingleharts postmaterialism thesis stresses the permanent effects of childhood experience in which economic deprivation leads to materialism in adult life. The human development perspective, in contrast, emphasizes the evolution of a persons value system as life-cycle development unfolds new circumstances and possibilities. We adopt a developmental framework to test claims from these two perspectives. On the basis of micro-level data, we compare the materialistic values of two historically and culturally different Chinese societies, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Findings support Ingleharts assertions that childhood experience has lasting effects and that rapid social changes create birth cohort differences in materialistic concerns. But life-cycle developments, such as education, marriage, and current social status, are equally important in influencing a persons value orientation. Both perspectives see only part of the picture, and an ...This article integrates two competing perspectives on value orientation. Ingleharts postmaterialism thesis stresses the permanent effects of childhood experience in which economic deprivation leads to materialism in adult life. The human development perspective, in contrast, emphasizes the evolution of a persons value system as life-cycle development unfolds new circumstances and possibilities. We adopt a developmental framework to test claims from these two perspectives. On the basis of micro-level data, we compare the materialistic values of two historically and culturally different Chinese societies, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Findings support Ingleharts assertions that childhood experience has lasting effects and that rapid social changes create birth cohort differences in materialistic concerns. But life-cycle developments, such as education, marriage, and current social status, are equally important in influencing a persons value orientation. Both perspectives see only part of the picture, and an integrated approach is needed to better understand how people construct and maintain their value system.

Policy feedback in transitional China: The sectoral divide and electoral participation

In studies of public reaction to policy initiatives, researchers often assume that universal social programs have the same effect on all social aggregates and are therefore conducive to social and political participation because of their comprehensive coverage, which suggests inclusive citizenship. However, structure-based differences in accessibility can distort these social programs into privileges for some and can reinforce existing inequalities. This study illustrates how social structure determines policy feedback in terms of political and civic participation in China. Using a nationally representative sample from 2005, we find that social insurance privileges public sector employees, encouraging them to be more active in political elections than in civic elections, whereas employees in the disadvantaged private sector emphasize civic elections over political elections. We argue that structural divisions in the social insurance regime serve the political purpose of maintaining state control in transitional China.

Wife Beating in South Africa

This article develops an imbalance theory to explain physical violence against women in intimate relationships in South Africa. The theory proposes four typologies: dependence, compensation, submission, and transgression, through which imbalances in resource contribution and power distribution between spouses are hypothesized to contribute to violence. The dependence hypothesis suggests that economic dependence of the wife will lead to more violence. The compensation hypothesis argues that the husband will use force to compensate for his inability to live up to the male-provider norm. The submission hypothesis suggests that violence will increase due to the submission of women in male-dominated families. Finally, the transgression hypothesis argues that men in female-dominated families will use force to punish their wives for supposedly transgressing the gender norm of male dominance. Empirical evidence provided some support for the dependence, submission, and transgression hypotheses.

An empirical evaluation of ISO/IEC 15504-5 capability measures

The development of composite indicators such as capability level (CL) depends on the relationship between a construct (e.g., capability) and its measures [e.g., process attributes (PA) in ISO/IEC 15504-5]. This relationship can be represented either by a reflective model (i.e., a set of measures reflecting the capability of a process) or a formative model (i.e., a set of measures that collectively determines the overall capability of a process). The aim of this study is to provide illustrations of relationship testing procedures with an example: statistically testing whether PAs as capability measures in ISO/IEC 15504-5 are reflective or formative. This test is a requirement of process measurement frameworks in ISO/IEC 33003. Our statistical tests show that PAs are formative measures that are consistent with the aggregation method of PA ratings. Capability and maturity measures in software engineering studies and other disciplines can also utilize our testing procedures to get the confidence of CLs and maturity levels assigned in assessments. Display Omitted The development of composite indicators depends on construct-measures relationship.The relationship can be represented by reflective or formative.This study shows that process attributes in ISO/IEC 15504-5 are formative measure.This result is consistent with current capability level rating scheme.

Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Legal Education in China: Legitimacy and Diffusion of an Academic Discipline from 1949 to 2012

Using documentary data, we investigate the evolution of legal education in China from 1949 to 2012. During this period, legal education evolved from an illegitimate practice to a legitimate practice over three distinct periods of nullification, reconstruction, and rationalization. Textual data suggest that the legitimization of legal education has been constituted and driven by three social forces: organizational ecology, the domestic institutional environment, and world culture. Their functioning and interplay have shaped the institutionalization of legal education in China. Our analysis indicates that the legitimacy granted to legal education by the state is the key force in driving institutionalization, that the world society provides models for imitation, and that the influence of organizational ecology is derived largely from state initiatives. The findings point to a more holistic picture of the diffusion of educational practices operating at multiple levels in a socialist society.