Brian Francis | Lancaster University (original) (raw)

Papers by Brian Francis

This paper introduces the paired comparison model as a suitable approach for the analysis of part... more This paper introduces the paired comparison model as a suitable approach for the analysis of partially ranked data. For example, the Inglehart index, collected in international social surveys to examine shifts in post-materialistic values, generates such data on a set of attitude items. However, current analysis methods have failed to account for the complex shifts in individual item values, or to incorporate subject covariates. The paired comparison model is thus developed to allow for covariate subject effects at the individual level, and a reparameterization allows the inclusion of smooth non-linear effects of continuous covariates. The Inglehart index collected in the 1993 International Social Science Programme survey is analysed, and complex non-linear changes of item values with age, level of education and religion are identified. The model proposed provides a powerful tool for social scientists.

British Journal of Criminology, Sep 21, 1997

Lecture Notes in Statistics, 1992

Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 2002

British Journal of Criminology, 2001

Journal of Applied Biomechanics, Nov 1, 2007

Kinematic studies to date have not considered in what ways surface markers may affect the perform... more Kinematic studies to date have not considered in what ways surface markers may affect the performance of the analyzed motion. This neglect is particularly apparent in studies of prehensile movements involving surface markers attached to the fingers. In order to specify any such effects, a range of kinematic parameters derived from simple reach-to-grasp movements, both with and without finger markers, by 3-yearold children and adults were analyzed. Finger markers affected both the spatial and temporal nature of the children's reaching performance as revealed by a more temporally segmented reaching path, an age-atypically straighter reaching path, and an increased time to establish a pincer grip. The reaching movements made by the adults were unaffected in terms of the kinematic parameters employed.

Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, Aug 20, 2002

This research considers the impact of having a religious faith on the cancer experience of patien... more This research considers the impact of having a religious faith on the cancer experience of patients and informal carers, focusing primarily on the association between faith and psychosocial needs. A questionnaire survey of 1000 patients in the north-west of England returned 402 completed questionnaires; around two-thirds of patients indicated they had an informal carer. Using logistic regression analysis, we examine the relationship between the importance of 48 needs and faith for 189 paired patients and carers, while controlling for the effect of eight sociodemographic and clinical variables. Patients with expressed faith identified fewer psychosocial needs than those without faith. In contrast, carers with expressed faith identified more needs than those without faith in relation to support from family and neighbours. Carers also needed more help with finding a sense of purpose and meaning, and help in dealing with unpredictability. Not surprisingly, both patients and carers with faith identified a greater need for opportunities for personal prayer, support from people of their own faith and support from a spiritual adviser. Various explanations of these differences between patients and carers are proposed. The crucial point is that one should not too readily assume that the cancer experience is shared in the same way by patients and carers. In understanding the faith dimension, one needs to consider both the spiritual and secular aspects of having a religious faith.

Stud High Educ, 1993

In this paper conditional offers made by universities to candidates resident in England and Wales... more In this paper conditional offers made by universities to candidates resident in England and Wales and taking A levels are analysed. The analysis was conducted at Lancaster University as part of a larger research project funded by the Training Agency during 1988–89, whose main aims were to map the pattern of admissions policies and practices and to examine the rationales,

Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 2012

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2015

The same core set of cross-sensory correspondences connecting stimulus features across different ... more The same core set of cross-sensory correspondences connecting stimulus features across different sensory channels are observed, regardless of the modality of the stimulus with which the correspondences are probed. This observation suggests that correspondences involve modality-independent representations of aligned conceptual feature dimensions and predicts a size-brightness correspondence in which smaller is aligned with brighter. This suggestion accommodates cross-sensory congruity effects where contrasting feature values are specified verbally rather than perceptually (e.g., where the words WHITE and BLACK interact with the classification of high- and low-pitch sounds). Experiment 1 brings these two issues together in assessing a conceptual basis for correspondences. The names of bright/white and dark/black substances were presented in a speeded brightness classification task, in which the two alternative response keys differed in size. A size-brightness congruity effect was confirmed, with substance names classified more quickly when the relative size of the response key needing to be pressed was congruent with the brightness of the named substance (e.g., when yoghurt was classified as a bright substance by pressing the smaller of two keys). Experiment 2 assesses the proposed conceptual basis for this congruity effect by requiring the same named substances to be classified according to their edibility (with all of the bright/dark substances having been selected for their edibility/inedibility, respectively). The predicted absence of a size-brightness congruity effect, along with other aspects of the results, supports the proposed conceptual basis for correspondences and speaks against accounts in which modality-specific perceptuomotor representations are entirely responsible for correspondence-induced congruity effects.

MSOR Connections, 2007

In the spring of 2005, the University of Lancaster was successful in winning a £4.85 million bid ... more In the spring of 2005, the University of Lancaster was successful in winning a £4.85 million bid to fund a Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). In common with other CETLs, the Lancaster CETL has the core aim of achieving excellence in teaching, however our specific focus on the development of postgraduate statistics taught both within the discipline of statistics and more broadly in other disciplines is more unique. The award is partially funding a £3.3 million building, the Postgraduate Statistics Centre (PSC), to expand the postgraduate activities of the department and will provide state of the art new teaching spaces for teaching statistics courses. In addition to this, funding has provided the department with several new members of staff and will allow a range of new resources to be developed within the centre. This article will give a general overview of the PSC and will discuss the main aims and objectives of the project followed by a brief summary of our achievements to date.

Health policy and education, 1981

Public expenditure on goods and services per head of population on the National Health Service (N... more Public expenditure on goods and services per head of population on the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom has risen less rapidly than some other forms of public expenditure such as education. Revenue expenditure at 1970 market prices on goods and services in the NHS per head of population rose by 38% during the period 1951 to 1968. During the same time interval, expenditure at 1970 market prices on goods and services in education per head of population rose by 84%. Health, as measured by standardised mortality ratios (SMRs), improved over a similar period. This paper argues that, in the long term, the priority given to education expenditure may not necessarily be detrimental to further improvements in community health.