Robert Sproule

The Underdetermination of Instructor Performance by Data from the Student Evaluation of Teaching.

Abstract This paper presents two related arguments. The first is that all models of instructor performance are underdetermined by the student evaluation of teaching data. The second is the obverse of the first — that the exclusive use of the student evaluation of teaching data in the determination of instructor performance is tantamount to the promotion and practice of pseudoscience, two activities anathema to the academic mission.

EMPIRICAL STATISTICS: IV. ILLUSTRATING MEEHL'S SIXTH LAW OF SOFT PSYCHOLOGY: EVERYTHING CORRELATES WITH EVERYTHING

A 135 × 135 matrix of correlations was computed, using educational/biographical data on 2,058 subjects, to find the background level of statistically significant correlations, or Meehls ‘crud factor.’ Every one of the 135 variables, save ID number, displayed more statistically significant correlations with the other variables than could be predicted from chance. With alpha set at .05 (two-tailed), a given variable correlated significantly on average with 41% of the other variables, although the absolute magrutude of the correlations averaged only .07. The results reinforce Meehls 1990 criticisms of over-reliance on significance levels for correlational data.

The Invisible Hands Behind the Student Evaluation of Teaching: The Rise of the New Managerial Elite in the Governance of Higher Education

Abstract: We contend that the notion of teaching effectiveness has no verifiable empirical content and therefore the question of teaching score validity is misguided. Universities create knowledge, invest in human capital, and grant degrees, yet teaching scores are ill equipped to capture and evaluate any of these outcomes. In spite of well-documented shortcomings, virtually all universities in North America use teaching scores because they allow the managerial elite to legitimize their control over the affairs of academia in the broader context of university governance. Using the enabling myth of teaching scores, the bureaucrats shift the focus from the investment in human capital to the granting of degrees in order to re-cast higher education into an authoritative, vertically organized hierarchy, better suited for managerial rent-extraction and entrenchment.

A generalization of the binomial distribution

This paper presents a new departure in the generalization of the binomial distribution by adopting the assumption that the underlying Bernoulli trials take on the values α or β where α < β, rather than the conventional values 0 or 1. The adoption of this more general assumption renders the binomial distribution a four-parameter distribution of the form B(n,p,α,β), and requires the generalization of Romanovskys (1923) reduction formula for central moments. This paper assesses the usefulness of B(n,p,α,β), and its reduction formula, in the numerical analysis of two problems of interest to decision theorists.

The Production Responses of the Competitive Firm to Three Conventional Distributional Shifts: A Unified Perspective

This paper presents a unified perspective on the production responses of the competitive firm to three conventional distributional shifts: (i) a rightward shift of the distribution, (ii) a Rothschild-Stiglitz increase in risk, and (iii) a Menezes et al. increase in downside risk. In particular, assuming that the von Neumann-Morgenstern utility is increasing and concave, and assuming its higher-order derivatives are uniformly signed, we demonstrate that the production responses are unambiguous in the case of price less than or equal to marginal cost. In the alternative case of price greater than marginal cost, we then demonstrate that the production responses can be signed unambiguously by reference to sufficient conditions motivated by absolute risk aversion and by absolute prudence.

Variance as a proxy for risk: the case of the binomial distribution

SUMMARY In a recent review of stochastic dominance, Levy has observed that there are (to date) three cases in which a meanpreserving increase in variance leads to the unequivocal reduction in the welfare of all risk averse individuals. These cases are defined by expected utility functions which have a quadratic von Neumann-Morgenstem utility function, a normal distribution or a log-normal distribution. This paper adds a fourth case to Levys list of three by employing Sproules mean-preserving transformation of the Bernoulli distribution and the Fu and Sproule generalization of the binomial distribution.

Reservation Prices and Pre-Auction Estimates: A Study in Abstract Art

Using a sample of European abstract art we show that reservation prices constrain pre-auction estimates in such a way that we are more likely to observe overestimation relative to the midpoint of the estimation window. At the same time, we also find that the low pre-auction estimate is a more powerful, accurate and precise predictor of hammer prices than the high estimate.

Stochastically dominating shifts and the competitive firm

Abstract The production responses of the competitive firm to stochastically dominating shifts in the distribution of output-price have been the object of much research. In a recent paper, Simpson and Sproule [Metroeconomica 51 (2) (2000) 168–181] present five sets of sufficient conditions, any one of which may be used to jointly sign the production responses of the competitive firm to first-, second-, and third-order stochastically dominating shifts. This paper demonstrates that one of the conditions outlined in the above mentioned reference is unnecessarily restrictive in the case of the logarithmic and the positive-power utility functions.

The short-run shutdown decision when output price and initial wealth are random

Abstract This paper extends the research of Hori (1983) and Chavas (1985) by investigating the short-run shutdown decision of the competitive firm under output price risk when initial wealth is random. Central to this endeavor are the results of Doherty and Schlesinger (1986), and Doherty et al. (1987), concerning global and local risk premia under multiple sources of risk. Using a local risk premium, two novel and intuitively-pleasing results are reported here. The reservation price of the shutdown decision varies: (a) according to the diversification of the decision makers cash flows, and (b) if the decision maker exhibits DARA, then according to the depth of decision makers pockets.

An alternative reduction formula for the central moments of the general bernoulli distribution

This note presents an alternative to Sproules (1992) reduction formula for the central mcfnerits of the general Bernoulli distribution, This alternative is founded in part on Roranovskys (1923) formula for the central moments of the conwentional Binomial distribution, The significance of this note for future research is also discussed.