The efficiency of German public theaters: a stochastic frontier analysis approach     

Anne-Kathrin Last  Heike Wetzel 《Journal of Cultural Economics》2010,34(2):89-110

In recent years the economic performance of public non-profit sectors such as cultural services has become an interesting economic issue. This is due to the high dependence of cultural institutions on public funding on the one hand and the increasing cost-pressure on public budgets on the other hand. In order to achieve an efficient, cost-minimizing resource allocation public authorities who decide on the distribution of public budgets need reliable performance indicators. Against this background, this paper analyzes the efficiency of German public theaters for the seasons 1991/1992–2005/2006. Using a stochastic frontier analysis approach, we test whether the assumption of cost-minimizing behavior is reliable in this sector. Moreover, several panel data models that differ in their ability to account for unobserved heterogeneity are applied to evaluate the impact of unobserved heterogeneity on the efficiency estimates. The results indicate that the cost-minimizing assumption cannot be maintained. Consequently, an efficiency analysis based on a cost function approach seems inappropriate in the case of German public theaters. Further, we find a considerable unobserved heterogeneity across the theaters, which causes a significant variation in the models’ efficiency estimates. This implies that failing to account for unobserved heterogeneity leads to biased efficiency values. Overall, our results suggest that there is still space for improvement in the employment of resources in the sector.  相似文献   

Combining self-assessments and achievement tests in information literacy assessment: empirical results and recommendations for practice     

Tom Rosman  Anne-Kathrin Mayer  Günter Krampen 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2015,40(5):740-754

This article examines the significance of information literacy self-assessments in higher education with a special focus on situational conditions increasing their explanatory power. First, it was hypothesised that self-assessments of information literacy correlate higher with factual information literacy if measured after the administration of information search tasks (and tests) due to the intrinsic feedback associated with their completion. Furthermore, it was assumed that self-assessments measured after the administration of information search tasks explain incremental variance over standardised information literacy tests in information search performance. A study with N = 82 German psychology students was carried out to verify these assumptions. Information literacy self-efficacy (as one form of self-assessment), as well as the PIKE-P information literacy test and several standardised information search tasks, was included in the test battery. As both assumptions were largely supported, we recommend that researchers complement their test batteries by self-assessments but warn them against relying primarily on this method. We further recommend that self-assessments should take place at the end of testing.  相似文献   

The effect of positive reappraisal on the availability of self-control resources and self-regulated learning*     

Anne-Kathrin Stiller  M. Florian Kattner  Catherine Gunzenhauser  Bernhard Schmitz 《教育心理学》2019,39(1):86-111

Effectively regulating negative emotions is important for successful self-regulated learning. However, research has hardly examined which emotion regulation strategies benefit self-regulated learning. In an experimental study, it was examined whether positive reappraisal facilitates self-regulated learning by counterbalancing the depletion of self-control resources. Sixty-one university students engaged in either positive reappraisal or expressive suppression to regulate negative emotions induced by a film clip and then worked on a self-regulated learning task. Participants who engaged in positive reappraisal experienced more positive emotions after the film and had more self-control resources available than participants who used expressive suppression. Moreover, positive reappraisal increased skin conductance during emotion regulation, as compared to expressive suppression. Irrespective of emotion regulation type, positive emotions predicted post-film availability of self-control resources which was positively associated with subsequent self-regulated learning. The results demonstrate beneficial affective and resource-related consequences of positive reappraisal as well as its potential for fostering self-regulated learning.  相似文献