Category: Commentary

Two blue chairs

Singaporean preparedness for retirement: Holding research publications and indices to higher standards (in the media)

Posted on by guanyinmiao

A persistent trend in this “What it might have been?” section – with reviews of newspaper articles referencing research or data – is that articles often lead with eye-catching headlines of the research findings, yet disappoint with thin exposition of the research methodology. TODAY’s (Dec. 4) coverage of an index ostensibly measuring retirement readiness, in that familiar pattern, dove into the main findings without examining how they were derived, and in addition the supplementary information provided was inadequate.

Classified newspaper page

“Reluctant Editor”: More answers, but even more questions

Posted on by guanyinmiao

Whereas Cheong Yip Seng’s “OB Markers: My Straits Times Story” was a more extensive account of “The Straits Times” (ST) – from the perspective of its former editor-in-chief – P. N. Balji offers a more succinct account of his stints as chief editor of “The New Paper” (TNP) and “TODAY”. His interesting editorial, journalistic, and political nuggets which shed light on the five different newspaper newsrooms of which he was a part were made even more readable by the fact that “Reluctant Editor” is explicitly not a self-aggrandising memoir.

Kindle on bed

“The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional / behavioural difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders”: Generalisability and external validity

Posted on by guanyinmiao

Whereas TODAY ran with the headline “Children exposed to digital devices at an early age may have emotional and behavioural difficulties” (TODAY, Nov. 12) – summarising a research study which sought to understand the relationship between screen use, sleep, and emotional or behavioural difficulties (EBDs) – the actual publication specified that the sample was pre-school children with neuro-developmental disorders (NDDs), not Singaporean children in general.

Piggy bank

Less millennial financial security? Recall bias and the comparability of findings

Posted on by guanyinmiao

In comparing two groups of Singaporeans – 311 millennials aged between 19 and 35 and 200 individuals aged between 60 and 69 (born between 1950 and 1959, thus part of the Merdeka Generation) – the focus of the research was on perceptions of life as a young Singaporean. In other words, the millennials were asked to reflect on their current life in the country today, whereas those belonging to the Merdeka Generation were asked to reflect on their life as a millennial during the 1970s and 1980s.

Classroom in Brazil

“Interprofessional collaboration between social workers and school counsellors in tackling youth at-risk behaviour”: Of social service mandates and definitions of “at-risk”

Posted on by guanyinmiao

The collaboration (and conflicts) between social workers and school counsellors – in the school context, working with and for “at-risk” students – is (are) the focus of Lim and Wong’s (2018) study, which has the potential to offer practical recommendations for such professionals across Singapore. While some of the dynamics are well-documented, three limitations should be highlighted: First, the focus on inter-professional collaboration at the individual level ignores more structural mandates dictating the roles of the counsellors and social workers (and is thus a missed opportunity to interrogate how the professionals perceive their responsibilities); second, there was only one counsellor-social worker dyad in the sample of nine, which means professional interactions were not adequately captured; and third, persistent reliance on the label “at-risk”, in my opinion, continues to be problematic.