Date: January 30th 2012
Letter from the President of ARICD
Dear ARICD members,
Very many thanks to all of you who sent in completed questionnaires as part of Phase 1 of the new re-standardisation. Professor Stroud and her team in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa have analysed a total of 85 (52 regular users and 33 non users) questionnaire responses from across the world. The questionnaires were sent to the email addresses held for GMDS Registered Users by Hogrefe, publishers of GMDS. We had a number of returned emails with invalid addresses, so apologies to those who would have liked to have participated but were not able to because we had an old email address.
The analysis of the questionnaire data provided support for many of the ‘guiding principles’ that had been established in the earlier stages of Phase 1. Most importantly that the GMDS Scales should remain essentially as originally set up but with some modern “tweaks”. When finished, the executive summary of Phase 1 will be posted on the ARICD website.
The next Phase of the re-standardisation is underway meanwhile. We are seeking an additional partner(s) in an UK academic institution so that we can proceed with the important psychometric evaluation and test development stages and set up appropriate research governance for the actual testing stage. We are aiming for a good test re-standardised in the UK and Ireland which can if necessary then be translated, validated or re-standardised in all the countries of use. This has not been achieved fully for the first or current forms of the GMDS but is seen as essential for full usage of the new GMDS across the world. We have some money to start this work but will also be seeking funding most probably from other charities. However ARICD is listed for Gift Aid so that if any member wishes to raise money on ARICD’s behalf please get in contact. ARICD is listed on some charitable giving websites and also on www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/aricd for those of you who shop online. A number of retailers e.g. Amazon will give ARICD a donation related to the cost of the shopping. Easyfundraising offers an introduction only; the purchase is directly through the retailer used.
We sent out a letter and notice of the 2011 ISM by post last year. The ISM in 2012 is provisionally on Friday 9th November with the AGM preceding the ISM programme. We are reverting to using email wherever possible to decrease our costs. To confirm your email address with us please contact Ivy Smith membership secretary at ivyasmith@tiscali.co.uk. We are also in the process of opening a Facebook page to facilitate access to all our users as well as ARICD members.
Lastly I would like to offer Dr Brian Burne congratulations on a very well earned retirement from active duty for ARICD. He is remaining in full contact with us all as Founder Member/ Trustee, for which we are grateful. Mrs Rosemary O’Connell is taking a gap from active service on the executive too having worked hard as Hon Sec then Vice President. We welcome Dr Ruth Paradice to the Vice president Trustee role and Dr Paula McAlinden takes on the Hon Treasurer Trustee role. We are very pleased to welcome back Dr Sarah Horrocks to the executive committee, Sarah played an important role as Hon Sec and UK Lead on the last re-standardisation.
Please do get in touch with me if you would like more information on items in this letter or if you have other comments/ questions for ARICD.
Elizabeth Green ARICD President
