Are Exam Questions Known in Advance? Using Local Dependence to Detect Cheating.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zimmermann S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5131967 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has impelled the majority of schools and universities around the world to switch to remote teaching. One of the greatest challenges in online education is preserving the academic integrity of student assessments. The lack of direct supervision by instructors during final examinations poses a significant risk of academic misconduct. In this paper, we propose a new approach to detecting potential cases of cheating on the final exam using machine learning techniques. We treat the issue of identifying the potential cases of cheating as an outlier detection problem. We use students' continuous assessment results to identify abnormal scores on the final exam. However, unlike a standard outlier detection task in machine learning, the student assessment data requires us to consider its sequential nature. We address this issue by applying recurrent neural networks together with anomaly detection algorithms. Numerical experiments on a range of datasets show that the proposed method achieves a remarkably high level of accuracy in detecting cases of cheating on the exam. We believe that the proposed method would be an effective tool for academics and administrators interested in preserving the academic integrity of course assessments.
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Project description:Cheating forms part of a complex emotional and cognitive process. However, although a relatively mundane phenomenon, instruments to evaluate cheating and its effects socially are scarce. This paper presents a five-stage approach aimed at providing validity to an instrument designed to assess cheating - specifically, its detection, and emotional reactions towards it once detected. An instrument was designed after (1) reviewing the relevant literature on cheating, in order to (2) design a bank of stimuli, (3) formulate a Delphi panel to judge the most coherent and pertinent ones, and (4) perform three pilot studies to adjust the final version of the instrument. Results from Stages 1 to 4 show that content validity was achieved for the Instrument for Detecting Cheating and its Emotional Reactions (INDETRAE, in Spanish: Instrumento para la Detección de Trampa y sus Reacciones Emocionales). Stimuli were grouped into five categories of 18 different scenarios, for a total of 90 vignettes: meaning, the INDETRAE is a 5-category, vignette-based questionnaire consisting of contrasting social cost-benefit scenarios, where the cheating situation affects an undefined, a first or a third person, and also a neutral category with no cheating. In Stage 5, several chi-squared tests (p < 0.0005) revealed significant differences between categories, proving that the instrument can indeed be used to detect cheating and to identify differentiated emotional reactions - for example, anger when there was detriment to a third person as opposed to neutral situations, or glad when there was a case of cheating which benefited the first person. The last stage counts as the first approximation to support construct validity of the INDETRAE. The most important contribution of this work consists in developing an instrument to detect cheating, confirmed by the resulting emotional reactions, which therefore demonstrate its validity.
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Project description:IntroductionItem analysis (IA) is widely used to assess the quality of multiple-choice questions (MCQs). The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative item analysis of two types of MCQs: single best answer (SBA) and extended matching questions (EMQs) currently in use in the Final Pediatrics undergraduate exam.MethodologyA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. We analyzed 42 SBA and 4 EMQ administered to 247 fifth-year medical students. The exam was held at the Pediatrics Department, Qena Faculty of Medicine, Egypt, in the 2020-2021 academic year. Quantitative item analysis included item difficulty (P), discrimination (D), distractor efficiency (DE), and test reliability. Qualitative item analysis included evaluation of the levels of cognitive skills and conformity of test items with item writing guidelines.ResultsThe mean score was 55.04 ± 9.8 out of 81. Approximately 76.2% of SBA items assessed low cognitive skills, and 75% of EMQ items assessed higher-order cognitive skills. The proportions of items with an acceptable range of difficulty (0.3-0.7) on the SBA and EMQ were 23.80 and 16.67%, respectively. The proportions of SBA and EMQ with acceptable ranges of discrimination (> 0.2) were 83.3 and 75%, respectively. The reliability coefficient (KR20) of the test was 0.84.ConclusionOur study will help medical teachers identify the quality of SBA and EMQ, which should be included to develop a validated question bank, as well as questions that need revision and remediation for subsequent use.
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Project description:UNLABELLED:Of the numerous instruments available to detect nutritional risk, the most widely used is the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), but it takes 15-20 min to complete and its systematic administration in primary care units is not feasible in practice. We developed a tool to evaluate malnutrition risk that can be completed more rapidly using just clinical variables. Between 2008 and 2013, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 418 women aged ?60 years from Mexico. Our outcome was positive MNA and our secondary variables included were: physical activity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, educational level, dentition, psychological problems, living arrangements, history of falls, age and the number of tablets taken daily. The sample was divided randomly into two groups: construction and validation. Construction: a risk table was constructed to estimate the likelihood of the outcome, and risk groups were formed. VALIDATION:the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated and we compared the expected and the observed outcomes. The following risk factors were identified: physical activity, hypertension, diabetes, dentition, psychological problems and living with the family. The AUC was 0.77 (95% CI [0.68-0.86], p < 0.001). No differences were found between the expected and the observed outcomes (p = 0.902). This study presents a new malnutrition screening test for use in elderly women. The test is based on six very simple, quick and easy-to-evaluate questions, enabling the MNA to be reserved for confirmation. However, it should be used with caution until validation studies have been performed in other geographical areas.
| S-EPMC4614806 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:MRI is commonly used to evaluate pediatric musculoskeletal pathologies, but same-day/near-term scheduling and short exams remain challenges. PURPOSE:To investigate the feasibility of a targeted rapid pediatric knee MRI exam, with the goal of reducing cost and enabling same-day MRI access. STUDY TYPE:A cost effectiveness study done prospectively. SUBJECTS:Forty-seven pediatric patients. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE:3T. The 10-minute protocol was based on T2 Shuffling, a four-dimensional acquisition and reconstruction of images with variable T2 contrast, and a T1 2D fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence. A distributed, compressed sensing-based reconstruction was implemented on a four-node high-performance compute cluster and integrated into the clinical workflow. ASSESSMENT:In an Institutional Review Board-approved study with informed consent/assent, we implemented a targeted pediatric knee MRI exam for assessing pediatric knee pain. Pediatric patients were subselected for the exam based on insurance plan and clinical indication. Over a 2-year period, 47 subjects were recruited for the study and 49 MRIs were ordered. Date and time information was recorded for MRI referral, registration, and completion. Image quality was assessed from 0 (nondiagnostic) to 5 (outstanding) by two readers, and consensus was subsequently reached. STATISTICAL TESTS:A Wilcoxon rank-sum test assessed the null hypothesis that the targeted exam times compared with conventional knee exam times were unchanged. RESULTS:Of the 49 cases, 20 were completed on the same day as exam referral. Median time from registration to exam completion was 18.7 minutes. Median reconstruction time for T2 Shuffling was reduced from 18.9 minutes to 95 seconds using the distributed implementation. Technical fees charged for the targeted exam were one-third that of the routine clinical knee exam. No subject had to return for additional imaging. DATA CONCLUSION:The targeted knee MRI exam is feasible and reduces the imaging time, cost, and barrier to same-day MRI access for pediatric patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 6 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019.
| S-EPMC6551292 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Whether there are ecological limits to species diversification is a hotly debated topic. Molecular phylogenies show slowdowns in lineage accumulation, suggesting that speciation rates decline with increasing diversity. A maximum-likelihood (ML) method to detect diversity-dependent (DD) diversification from phylogenetic branching times exists, but it assumes that diversity-dependence is a global phenomenon and therefore ignores that the underlying species interactions are mostly local, and not all species in the phylogeny co-occur locally. Here, we explore whether this ML method based on the nonspatial diversity-dependence model can detect local diversity-dependence, by applying it to phylogenies, simulated with a spatial stochastic model of local DD speciation, extinction, and dispersal between two local communities. We find that type I errors (falsely detecting diversity-dependence) are low, and the power to detect diversity-dependence is high when dispersal rates are not too low. Interestingly, when dispersal is high the power to detect diversity-dependence is even higher than in the nonspatial model. Moreover, estimates of intrinsic speciation rate, extinction rate, and ecological limit strongly depend on dispersal rate. We conclude that the nonspatial DD approach can be used to detect diversity-dependence in clades of species that live in not too disconnected areas, but parameter estimates must be interpreted cautiously.
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Project description:BackgroundCannabis abuse (CA) has been associated with psychopathology, including negative emotionality and higher risk of psychosis, particularly with early age of initiation. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. Because aberrant dopamine signaling is implicated in cannabis-associated psychopathology, we hypothesized that regular CA would be associated with altered resting-state functional connectivity in dopamine midbrain-striatal circuits.MethodsWe examined resting-state brain activity of subcortical regions in 441 young adults from the Human Connectome Project, including 30 subjects with CA meeting DSM-IV criteria for dependence and 30 control subjects matched on age, sex, education, body mass index, anxiety, depression, and alcohol and tobacco usage.ResultsAcross all subjects, local functional connectivity density hubs in subcortical regions were most prominent in ventral striatum, hippocampus, amygdala, dorsal midbrain, and posterior-ventral brainstem. As hypothesized, subjects with CA showed markedly increased local functional connectivity density relative to control subjects, not only in ventral striatum (where nucleus accumbens is located) and midbrain (where substantia nigra and ventral tegmental nuclei are located) but also in brainstem and lateral thalamus. These effects were observed in the absence of significant differences in subcortical volumes and were most pronounced in individuals who began cannabis use earliest in life and who reported high levels of negative emotionality.ConclusionsTogether, these findings suggest that chronic CA is associated with changes in resting-state brain function, particularly in dopaminergic nuclei implicated in psychosis but that are also critical for habit formation and reward processing. These results shed light on neurobiological differences that may be relevant to psychopathology associated with cannabis use.
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Project description:Introgression is a common evolutionary phenomenon that results in shared genetic material across non-sister taxa. Existing statistical methods such as Patterson's D statistic can detect introgression by measuring an excess of shared derived alleles between populations. The D statistic is effective to detect genome-wide patterns of introgression but can give spurious inferences of introgression when applied to local regions. We propose a new statistic, D+, that leverages both shared ancestral and derived alleles to infer local introgressed regions. Incorporating both shared derived and ancestral alleles increases the number of informative sites per region, improving our ability to identify local introgression. We use a coalescent framework to derive the expected value of this statistic as a function of different demographic parameters under an instantaneous admixture model and use coalescent simulations to compute the power and precision of D+. While the power of D and D+ is comparable, D+ has better precision than D. We apply D+ to empirical data from the 1000 Genome Project and Heliconius butterflies to infer local targets of introgression in humans and in butterflies.
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Project description:The prevalence of antisocial behavior varies across time and place. The likelihood of committing such behavior is affected by, and also affects, the local social environment. To further our understanding of this dynamic process, we conducted two studies of antisocial behavior, punishment, and social norms. These studies took place in two neighborhoods in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. According to a previous study, Neighborhood A enjoys relatively low frequencies of antisocial behavior and crime and high levels of social capital. In contrast, Neighborhood B is characterized by relatively high frequencies of antisocial behavior and crime and low levels of social capital. In Study 1, we used an economic game to assess neighborhood differences in theft, third-party punishment (3PP) of theft, and expectation of 3PP. Participants also reported their perceived neighborhood frequency of cooperative norm violation ("cheating"). Participants in Neighborhood B thought that their neighbors commonly cheat but did not condone cheating. They stole more money from their neighbors in the game, and were less punitive of those who did, than the residents of Neighborhood A. Perceived cheating was positively associated with theft, negatively associated with the expectation of 3PP, and central to the neighborhood difference. Lower trust in one's neighbors and a greater subjective value of the monetary cost of punishment contributed to the reduced punishment observed in Neighborhood B. In Study 2, we examined the causality of cooperative norm violation on expectation of 3PP with a norms manipulation. Residents in Neighborhood B who were informed that cheating is locally uncommon were more expectant of 3PP. In sum, our results provide support for three potentially simultaneous positive feedback mechanisms by which the perception that others are behaving antisocially can lead to further antisocial behavior: (1) motivation to avoid being suckered, (2) decreased punishment of antisocial behavior, and (3) decreased expectation of punishment of antisocial behavior. Consideration of these mechanisms and of norm psychology will help us to understand how neighborhoods can descend into an antisocial culture and get stuck there.
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Project description:A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of answering questions outside of class on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated. Students in seven course sections (with an average of ∼265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of 1,323 questions covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. After students answered a set of questions, they were shown the correct answers for those questions. More specific feedback describing how to arrive at the correct answer was provided for the 73% of the questions for which the correct answers were not deemed to be self-explanatory. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five exams given to students in course sections that had access to the online study questions and on three to 77 exams given to students in sections that lacked such access. Data from over 1,800 students in sections with access to the online study questions show that those students scored a statistically significant average of 6.6% points higher on the exam questions analyzed than students in sections without access to the study questions. This difference was greater than the average amount necessary to raise students' exam grades by one grade (e.g., from a "B-" to a "B"). In addition, there was a higher correlation between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material related to the study questions than between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material unrelated to the study questions. The online study question system required substantial effort to set up, but required minimal effort to maintain and was effective in significantly raising average exam scores for even very large course sections.
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