College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8

The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.evaluation

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Evaluation of Five Satellite Top-of-Atmosphere Albedo Products over Land
    (MDPI, 2019-12-06) Zhan, Chuan; Allan, Richard P.; Liang, Shunlin; Wang, Dongdong; Song, Zhen
    Five satellite top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo products over land were evaluated in this study including global products from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) (TAL-AVHRR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (TAL-MODIS), and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES); one regional product from the Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF); and one harmonized product termed Diagnosing Earth’s Energy Pathways in the Climate system (DEEP-C). Results showed that overall, there is good consistency among these five products, particularly after the year 2000. The differences among these products in the high-latitude regions were relatively larger. The percentage differences among TAL-AVHRR, TAL-MODIS, and CERES were generally less than 20%, while the differences between TAL-AVHRR and DEEP-C before 2000 were much larger. Except for the obvious decrease in the differences after 2000, the differences did not show significant changes over time, but varied among different regions. The differences between TAL-AVHRR and the other products were relatively large in the high-latitude regions of North America, Asia, and the Maritime Continent, while the differences between DEEP-C and CM SAF in Europe and Africa were smaller. Interannual variability was consistent between products after 2000, before which the differences among the three products were much larger.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    On the Social Consequences of the Desire for Motion
    (2016) Chernikova, Marina; Kruglanski, Arie; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Three studies investigated the effects of locomotion regulatory mode on individuals’ evaluations of social partners who disrupt the smooth forward motion of a social interaction. Locomotion was expected to increase individuals’ preference for smooth motion in social interactions. In turn, that preference was expected to lead to less positive evaluations of listeners who disrupted the “flow” of a social interaction. The results generally did not confirm the predictions. Theoretical and practical implications of the studies, as well as future directions for the research, are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A COMPARISON OF EX-ANTE, LABORATORY, AND FIELD METHODS FOR EVALUATING SURVEY QUESTIONS
    (2014) Maitland, Aaron; Presser, Stanley; Survey Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A diverse range of evaluation methods is available for detecting measurement error in survey questions. Ex-ante question evaluation methods are relatively inexpensive, because they do not require data collection from survey respondents. Other methods require data collection from respondents either in the laboratory or in the field setting. Research has explored how effective some of these methods are at identifying problems with respect to one another. However, a weakness of most of these studies is that they do not compare the range of question evaluation methods that are currently available to researchers. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how the methods researchers use to evaluate survey questions influence the conclusions they draw about the questions. In addition, the dissertation seeks to identify more effective ways to use the methods together. It consists of three studies. The first study examines the extent of agreement between ex-ante and laboratory methods in identifying problems and compares the methods in how well they predict differences between questions whose validity has been estimated in record-check studies. The second study evaluates the extent to which ex-ante and laboratory methods predict the performance of questions in the field as measured by indirect assessments of data quality such as behavior coding, response latency and item nonresponse. The third study evaluates the extent to which ex-ante, laboratory, and field methods predict the reliability of answers to survey questions as measured by stability over time. The findings suggest (1) that a multiple method approach to question evaluation is the best strategy given differences in the ability to detect different types of problems between the methods and (2) how to combine methods more effectively in the future.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effectiveness of School Based Intensive Probation for Reducing Recidivism: An Evaluation of Maryland's Spotlight on Schools Program
    (2011) Frederique, Nadine P.; Gottfredson, Denise C; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    School Based Probation programs provide intensive supervision for juvenile probationers by placing probation officers in high schools. However, they have yet to undergo rigorous evaluation. Previous evaluations suffered from methodological flaws and have presented inconsistent findings. The state of Maryland began its SBP program, called Spotlight on Schools (SOS), in the 1990's. It is now used in many schools throughout the state. SOS has never been formally assessed. This dissertation presents results from a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group study examining the recidivism rates of students in schools with and without this probation program. I address the flaws of previous evaluations by using two statistical methods. First, I use multi-level modeling to predict school level recidivism while controlling for statistically relevant individual level and school level characteristics. Second, I use survival analysis to determine if juveniles on SBP experience a longer time in the community before recidivism. These analyses are supplemented with interviews of school principals and probation officers. Results from the multi-level modeling and survival analysis indicate that school participation in the SOS program is not significantly related to likelihood of recidivism or the seriousness of recidivism. Seven of the eight outcome variables assessed in this evaluation are not significantly related to participation in the SOS program. This study joins a long list of intensive supervision evaluations that suggest that these programs have no significant impact on juvenile recidivism.