Browsing by Author "Castillo, Juan Carlos"

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    A Multidimensional Approach for Measuring Meritocratic Beliefs: Advantages, Limitations and Alternatives to the ISSP Social Inequality Survey
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD, 2023) Castillo, Juan Carlos; Iturra, Julio; Maldonado Navarro, Luis Edgardo; Atria, Jorge; Meneses, Francisco
    A great part of the comparative international research that has attempted to measure meritocratic beliefs has used the social inequality module of the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme), which offers an unprecedented opportunity to compare meritocratic views in different societies. Based on a series of studies using ISSP data, the present paper proposes a multidimensional measurement framework for meritocratic beliefs. This framework distinguishes, on the one side, between perceptions and preferences and, on the other side, between meritocratic and not meritocratic aspects. In the first study, we test the multidimensional framework for meritocratic beliefs using the ISSP 2009 inequality module through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques. After identifying the advantages and some limitations of ISSP items for a multidimensional operationalization of meritocratic beliefs, in a second study, we suggest a modified set of items that better taps the different dimensions of meritocracy. We examined the measuring properties of this new instrument using a sample of Chilean adults (N = 2,141). Based on these results, we recommend improvements in measuring meritocratic beliefs in cross-national studies.
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    Argumentative writing and academic achievement: A longitudinal study
    (2013) Preiss Contreras, David Daniel; Castillo, Juan Carlos; Grigorenko, Elena L.; Manzi Astudillo, Jorge
    Capitalizing on the implementation of a writing assessment initiative implemented at a major Chilean university, we test how predictive writing is of subsequent academic achievement. First, using a multilevel analytic approach (n = 2597), the study shows that, after controlling for socio-demographic variables and the university admission tests, writing skills significantly predict first-year university grades. Second, using information about the performance of students during their first eight semesters in the university (n = 1616), a longitudinal hierarchical analysis showed that writing remains a significant predictor of university grades over time, also after controlling socio-demographic variables and university admissions tests. Moreover, language skills retain or improve their predictive role over time, whereas mathematics skills seem to decrease in their importance. Our results show that writing, and the cognitive skills involved in writing, play a critical role in advanced stages of academic training, consequently offering additional support for the consideration of this ability for university admission purposes.
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    Assessment of argumentative writing and critical thinking in higher education: Educational correlates and gender differences
    (2013) Preiss Contreras, David Daniel; Castillo, Juan Carlos; Flotts de los Hoyos, María Paulina; San Martín, Ernesto
    The purpose of the study is to explore whether first-year university students' performance in an argumentative writing test is related to their performance in tests of inference analysis, argument analysis and syllogistic reasoning as well as their academic achievement, as measured by their previous high school grades and by two standardized tests required for university admission in Chile. 452 first-year undergraduates participated in the study. The results show that the information originated from the writing and thinking assessments supplements the information provided by the academic measures. The inference and argument analysis tests did not replicate the achievement gap between public, voucher and private schools commonly observed in Chile. The results showed that gender differences in writing are relatively independent of gender differences in thinking. The results support the adoption of writing and thinking measures as a part of initiatives targeting the identification of abilities not tested by conventional academic assessment.
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    Social cohesion and attitudinal changes toward migration: A longitudinal perspective amid the COVID-19 pandemic
    (2023) Castillo, Juan Carlos; Bonhomme, Macarena; Miranda, Daniel; Iturra, Julio
    The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social interactions and coexistence around the globe in dimensions that go far beyond health issues. In the case of the Global South, the pandemic has developed along with growing South-South migratory movements, becoming another key factor that might reinforce social conflict in increasingly multicultural areas as migrants have historically served as "scapegoats" for unexpected crises as a way to control and manage diversity. Chile is one of the main destination countries for migrants from the Latin American and Caribbean region, and COVID-19 outbreaks in migrant housing have intensified discrimination. In such a context, there is a need for understanding how the pandemic has potentially changed the way non-migrants perceive and interact with migrant neighbors. Drawing on the national social cohesion panel survey study ELSOC (2016-2021, N = 2,927) the aim is to analyze the changes in non-migrants' attitudes toward migrants-related to dimensions of social cohesion-over the last years and their relation with individual status and territorial factors. We argue that social cohesion in increasingly multicultural societies is partially threatened in times of crisis. The results indicate that after the pandemic, convivial attitudes toward Latin American migrants decreased. Chileans started perceiving them more negatively, particularly those respondents with lower educational levels and who live in increasingly multicultural neighborhoods with higher rates of migrant residents.