Michael C. Boyes

Relativism and Stations of Epistemic Doubt.

This sequence of studies examined the role that relativistic thinking plays in the cognitive and social-emotional lives of adolescents. Study 1 introduces an assessment strategy and associated descriptive model employed in evaluating how 70 concrete and formal operational adolescents differently interpret and resolve problems involving competing knowledge claims. A second study explored the relations between the epistemic orientations evidenced by 61 of these subjects and their current level of identity development. Study 3 compared the epistemic assumptions of a group of 29 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents with those of a matched group of normal controls. Results from these studies indicate that relativistic approaches to problems of belief entitlement are: a) routinely characteristic of most normal adolescents; b) available to formal operational, but not concrete operational individuals; c) associated with more mature ego-identity statuses; and d) typically absent in groups of psychiatrically hospitalized youth.

Personality, Personal Epistemology, and Moral Judgment:

The relations among personality traits, moral judgment, and personal epistemology were investigated. The relationship between personality and moral judgments is empirically unclear, which may reflect that personal epistemology mediates the relationships between personality and moral reasoning. In the present study 41 men and 57 women, ranging in age from 18 to 46 yr. responded to Zuckermans Sensation Seeking Scale, Form V, a measure of moral reasoning or Rests Defining Issues Test, and a measure of persona] epistemology by Unger, Draper, and Pendergrass, the Attitudes About Reality scale. The pattern of inter-correlation among measures differed for men and women. For women an epistemology based on assumptions of logical positivism was negatively correlated with sensation seeking. For men an epistemology based on assumptions of logical positivism was negatively correlated with principled moral reasoning. Implications of these results are discussed.

Datathons: An Experience Report of Data Hackathons for Data Science Education

Large amounts of data are becoming increasingly available through open data repositories as well as companies and governments collecting data to improve decision making and efficiencies. Consequently there is a need to increase the data literacy of computer science students. Data science is a relatively new area within computer science and the curriculum is rapidly evolving along with the tools required to perform analytics which students need to learn how to effectively use. To address the needs of students learning key data science and analytics skills we propose augmenting existing data science curriculums with hackathon events that focus on data also known as datathons. In this paper we present our experience at hosting and running four datathons that involved students and members from the community coming together to solve challenging problems with data from not-for-profit social good organizations and publicly open data. Our reported experience from our datathons will help inform other academics and community groups who also wish to host datathons to help facilitate their students and members to learn key data science and analytics skills.

Predictors of student satisfaction in a large psychology undergraduate program.

Psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate majors in North America, yet few studies have examined psychology majors’ views of their degree program. The purpose of the present study was to identify the factors that contribute to students’ satisfaction with their psychology degree. The participants were psychology majors (N = 237) graduating from a large Canadian undergraduate program. Three cohorts of graduating students (classes of 2013, 2014, and 2015) completed a comprehensive exit survey. Multiple regression analyses indicated that key predictors of students’ satisfaction with their degree program included the quality of teaching in lectures, level of academic challenge, and opportunities for research experience. Additional analyses showed that students with a research thesis requirement reported significantly higher satisfaction than students in a conventional course-based major. These and other findings lead to several recommendations for increasing students’ satisfaction in psychology undergraduate programs. La psychologie est l’un des programmes d’études de premier cycle les plus populaires en Amérique du Nord. Pourtant, très peu d’études se sont penchées sur l’opinion des diplômés au sujet de leur programme. L’objectif de la présente étude était de déterminer les facteurs qui contribuent à la satisfaction des étudiants envers leur diplôme en psychologie. Les participants étaient des personnes ayant obtenu un baccalauréat spécialisé en psychologie (N = 237) dans une grande université canadienne. Trois cohortes (ayant terminé en 2013, 2014 et 2015) ont répondu à un questionnaire d’enquête de sortie exhaustif. Des analyses de régressions multiples ont permis de déterminer les principales variables prédictives de la satisfaction des étudiants à l’égard du programme d’études, tels la qualité de l’enseignement, le niveau du défi intellectuel et les possibilités de travaux de recherche. Des analyses additionnelles ont révélé que les étudiants devant soumettre un mémoire de recherche ont rapporté un niveau de satisfaction significativement plus élevé que eux qui ont suivi un programme composé uniquement de cours. Ces résultats ainsi que d’autres mènent à plusieurs recommandations visant à accroître la satisfaction des étudiants des programmes de premier cycle en psychologie.

Mechanisms for the Translation and Communication of Developmental Theory

Reading overviews of the theorists, theories, and research practices of developmental psychologists in other cultures, such as that offered by Venger in this volume, are a form of scholarly travel. As with actual travel to foreign lands, such journeys are often motivated by a somewhat confused admixture of curiosity, openness to new experiences, and a vague sense of need. This sense of need reflects the extent to which both types of journeys constitute quests for means by which we can better make sense of our worlds of experience.