Papers by Mette Krogh Christensen
Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 2014
Background: Elite athletes often take part in group trainings and use teammates as learning resou... more Background: Elite athletes often take part in group trainings and use teammates as learning resources. Despite this, research on the training and learning of elite athletes tends to characterise this training and learning as primarily individual. Purpose: This study, explores interrelated learning processes among elite athletes by exploring the performance-related learning that takes place between elite trampoline athletes in their training environment. The case will be made that such learning may be described most accurately as apprenticeship learning. Participants: The research focuses on a case study involving two Danish synchronised trampoline jumpers, Daniel and Peter, and their training as part of the Danish national trampolining team. Data collection: The data were generated through participant observation. During 10 days of observations, the principal researcher held informal talks with the athletes and the coach and took descriptive field notes. At the conclusion of the obs...
Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2017
Recent years have seen leading medical educationalists repeatedly call for a paradigm shift in th... more Recent years have seen leading medical educationalists repeatedly call for a paradigm shift in the way we view, value and use subjectivity in assessment. The argument is that subjective expert raters generally bring desired quality, not just noise, to performance evaluations. While several reviews document the psychometric qualities of the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI), we currently lack qualitative studies examining what we can learn from MMI raters’ subjectivity. The present qualitative study therefore investigates rater subjectivity or taste in MMI selection interview. Taste (Bourdieu 1984) is a practical sense, which makes it possible at a pre-reflective level to apply ‘invisible’ or ‘tacit’ categories of perception for distinguishing between good and bad. The study draws on data from explorative in-depth interviews with 12 purposefully selected MMI raters. We find that MMI raters spontaneously applied subjective criteria—their taste—enabling them to assess the candidates’ interpersonal attributes and to predict the candidates’ potential. In addition, MMI raters seemed to share a taste for certain qualities in the candidates (e.g. reflectivity, resilience, empathy, contact, alikeness, ‘the good colleague’); hence, taste may be the result of an ongoing enculturation in medical education and healthcare systems. This study suggests that taste is an inevitable condition in the assessment of students’ performance. The MMI set-up should therefore make room for MMI raters’ taste and their connoisseurship, i.e. their ability to taste, to improve the quality of their assessment of medical school candidates.
Working Paper Series
In recent years it has become apparent that we must take unobservable heterogeneity into account ... more In recent years it has become apparent that we must take unobservable heterogeneity into account when conducting empirical consumer demand analysis. This paper is concerned with integrability (that is, whether demand is consistent with utility maximization) of the conditional mean demand (that is, the estimated demand) when allowing for unobservable heterogeneity. Integrability is important because it is necessary in order for the demand system estimates to be used for welfare analysis.
The Scandinavian Journal of Economics
All micro studies of demand are based on using time series cross sectional data. Because in such ... more All micro studies of demand are based on using time series cross sectional data. Because in such data each household is only observed once, it is only under strong identifying restrictions that one can interpret the coefficients on consumer behavior. For example, if tastes are correlated with income, the usual estimates of income elasticities from cross sectional data are biased. In contrast, panel data allows identification of the coefficients on consumer behavior in the presence of unobservable correlated heterogeneity. In this paper we make use of a unique Spanish panel data set on household expenditures to test whether unobservable heterogeneity in household demands (taste) is correlated with total expenditures (income). We find that tastes are indeed correlated with income for half of the goods considered.
Sociology of Sport Journal
The purpose of this study is to explore how top-level soccer coaches identify talent. I draw on B... more The purpose of this study is to explore how top-level soccer coaches identify talent. I draw on Bourdieu’s work to challenge a commonly held assumption that talent identification is a rational or objective process. Analysis of in-depth interviews with eight coaches of national youth soccer teams indicated these coaches identified talent in three ways. First, coaches use their practical sense and their visual experience to recognize patterns of movement among the players. Second, the coaches’ classificatory schemes are characterized by their preference for so-called “autotelic” players, that is, players that, from the coaches’ perspective, exhibit a potential to learn, practice, and improve. Third, the study shows that talent, of which the coaches act as arbiters of taste, is socially configured in top-level soccer.
Nar, 2007
is an abundant liver-specific miRNA, implicated in fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism as well ... more is an abundant liver-specific miRNA, implicated in fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism as well as hepatitis C viral replication.
Dansk Universitetspaedagogisk Tidsskrift, Sep 1, 2014
Recent research in medical education suggests that program specific admission testing could have ... more Recent research in medical education suggests that program specific admission testing could have a protective effect against early dropout.
Neuroreport, May 1, 2007
The basolateral amygdaloid complex is a site of origin for zinc-containing pathways in the brain;... more The basolateral amygdaloid complex is a site of origin for zinc-containing pathways in the brain; it is also known for its massive innervation of the medial prefrontal cortex. The presence, and potential neuromodulatory role, of zinc within this fundamental corticolimbic circuit has not been described. For this study, basolateral neurons innervating the medial prefrontal cortex were retrogradely labeled with FluoroGold, and zinc-containing neurons were identified using autometallography to visualize zinc selenium precipitates. Upon quantification of single-labeled and double-labeled cells, 35% of basolateral neurons projecting to medial prefrontal cortex were found to also contain zinc. We conclude that zinc may act as a neuromodulator for a substantial proportion of basolateral-medial prefrontal cortical innervation, therefore implicating zinc in corticolimbic function as well as pathology.
The School of Economics Discussion Paper Series, Feb 1, 2008
Marine Ecology Progress Series, Jul 18, 2002
ABSTRACT: Effects of the polychaetes Nereis diversicolor and Arenicola marina on the distribution... more ABSTRACT: Effects of the polychaetes Nereis diversicolor and Arenicola marina on the distribution, metabolism and removal of [14C-4, 5, 9, 10]-pyrene in sediment microcosms were studied over 42 and 53 d, respectively. Unmetabolized pyrene, water-and organic-...
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Apr 1, 2003
The influence of the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus on the degradation of selected poly-and... more The influence of the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus on the degradation of selected poly-and heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (referred to as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs]) in soil was investigated under field conditions representing the Northern temperate zone. Pleurotus ostreatus was added to two contaminated soils in the form of homogenized refuse from the commercial production of fungus. The soils were collected from a former shipyard (the B&W soil) and underneath a former coal tar storage at an old asphalt factory in Denmark (the Ringe soil). Treatments (control, soil mixed with autoclaved sawdust medium, and soil mixed with P. ostreatus refuse) were set up in triplicate in concrete cylinders (height, 50 cm; diameter, 60 cm). The activity of P. ostreatus was measured as laccase activity and phenanthrene (PHE)-and pyrene (PYR)-degrading bacteria were enumerated. Twenty-one different PAHs were quantified. After nine weeks the concentrations of the 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-ring PAHs in the Ringe soil were reduced by 78, 41, and 4%, respectively. These reductions corresponded with high initial laccase activity, a decrease in pH caused by the fungus, and an increase in the number of PHE-and PYR-degrading bacteria. No significant PAH degradation was observed in the B&W soil. Reasons for the difference in performance of P. ostreatus in the two soils are discussed in terms of soil histories and bioavailability. The use of P. ostreatus refuse holds promising potential for bioremediation purposes.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13573322 2011 637550, Jan 24, 2014
ABSTRACT Background: 3-10 % of doctors in postgraduate specialist training can be termed trainees... more ABSTRACT Background: 3-10 % of doctors in postgraduate specialist training can be termed trainees in difficulty or problem residents, struggling to comply with educational requirements. From research we know that stress, insecurity, lack of time, lack of mutual expectation, and lack of role clarification are key sources when a trainee experiences difficulties. Summary of Work: 10 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Danish trainees in difficulty were conducted. The interviews took the trainees’ narratives about the above mentioned key sources as starting point. Summary of Results: The results show that trainees experience stress, insecurity, lack of time, lack of mutual expectation, and lack of role clarification as sources influencing their difficulties, hence the conducted interviews support previous research. However, these sources seem to be intertwined in different ways dependent on the trainee’s life history and specific contextual circumstances. Furthermore, the results show that the atmosphere (“stimmung”) and the organizational climate at the workplace are highly influenced by the senior doctors. The trainees in this study had no difficulty working long hours and in stressed situations as long as their work was positively acknowledged and properly supervised by the senior doctors. Discussion and Conclusions: The problem area of trainees in difficulty seem to involve an educational culture and organizational climate marked by stress, insecurity, lack of time, lack of mutual expectation, and lack of role clarification. Positive acknowledge-ment and proper supervision by the senior doctors seem to reduce and remedy the trainees’ experiences of difficulties. Take-home messages: The complexity of this study’s narratives about trainees in difficulty calls for flexible solutions as well as organizational initiatives.
Athletic Insight the Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 2013
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 2159676x 2013 809378, Jul 21, 2014
Based on a single case study of a Danish elite golfer, this article focuses on describing the dif... more Based on a single case study of a Danish elite golfer, this article focuses on describing the different ways in which the golfer experiences the physicality of her body during training. The aim of the article is to explore how phenomenological insights concerning self-consciousness can be used actively in the analyses of the golfer's descriptions to better understand how the embodied expertise is practised in her training. The descriptions of the elite golfer's daily practice were generated using a combination of participant observations and interviews. Drawing on phenomenological insights, we suggest that the golfer's experience of the physicality of her body can be considered in relation to three possible dimensions of self-consciousness: a pre-reflective subject-related dimension, a reflective object-directed dimension and a pre-reflective performative dimension. The pre-reflective performative dimension is to be understood as a non-objectifying dimension of subjects experience and, in the present case, appears central to how the golfer adjusts and reshapes her technical skills. The golfer exemplifies how a possible pre-reflective performative dimension reflects the overall 'feeling' of the moving body. From a methodological perspective, the analysis of the single case study also exemplifies how phenomenological insights might concretely influence the analysis of an actual practice and how the achieved understanding can be important to the further development of elite athletes' expert training.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 17408989 2013 769508, Aug 1, 2014
Background: Elite athletes often take part in group trainings and use teammates as learning resou... more Background: Elite athletes often take part in group trainings and use teammates as learning resources. Despite this, research on the training and learning of elite athletes tends to characterise this training and learning as primarily individual.
Focus Tidsskrift For Idraet, 2011
In this case study of a Danish elite handball team, we explore team learning processes in order t... more In this case study of a Danish elite handball team, we explore team learning processes in order to examine to what extent team members' development of expertise is a shared deliberate practice. By drawing from theoretical frameworks on expertise and deliberate practice and team cognition (Salas, Fiore, and Letsky, 2012), we aim to answer what characterizes efficient and successful handball team training.The case study involved participant observation and interviews, and it included the female first team in a Danish handball club Randers HK. The team is amongst the best three teams in Denmark. In particular, the case studyfound that important factors for shared deliberate practice are concentration, feedback and role modeling. There are four theoretical findings. 1. Deliberate practice in team sport is a shared activity. 2. Both structured tactical training and match training are deliberate practices. 3. Concentration mediates team cognitive skills. 4. Feedback and role modeling mediate team cognitive skills. From an applied perspective, this study points to the value of seeing team sport as necessitating shared deliberate practice. Team players need to train shared understanding and learn how to negotiate the coach's orchestration of the game plan. Specifically, the results may lead experienced coaches in high performance team sports to use experienced athletes to engage in verbal feedback and being explicit role models to less experienced players.
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Papers by Mette Krogh Christensen