While explicit conceptual models help to inform research, they are left out of much of the health professions education (HPE) literature. One reason may be the limited understanding about how to develop conceptual models with intention and rigor. Group concept mapping (GCM) is a mixed methods conceptualization approach that has been used to…

Discipline-based education researchers have a natural laboratory--classrooms, programs, colleges, and universities. Studies that administer treatments to multiple sections, in multiple years, or at multiple institutions are particularly compelling for two reasons: first, the sample sizes increase, and second, the implementation of the treatments…

Since Topping published his literature review on peer assessment in 1998, the number of studies on this subject has doubled, if not tripled. However, along with this expansion, the diversity of peer assessment applications increased equally fast. Based on recent literature, this contribution focuses specifically on the diversity that has come to…

Using examples of data from the areas of information retrieval and of multivariate data analysis, six hierarchic clustering algorithms (single link, median, centroid, group average, complete link, Wards's) are examined and evaluated by using three proposed coefficients of hierarchic structure. Nine references are cited. (EJS)

Presents system for automatic handling of ordered sets, states based on these sets, and differing points of view regarding Universe of Discourse. Aspects are represented by new logical "overlap" function with examples taken from Ranganathan's horse and carriage parable and several books involving four main concepts (history, geography,…

Of 169 adult and adolescent stutterers studied, 112 reported family history of stuttering. Only 3 of the 112 reported birth or early childhood factors that might precipitate stuttering, as opposed to 21 of those without family history of stuttering. By considering these two conditions as separate factors in behavior, stutterers may be divided into…

Tests for and identifies populations within a family of electronics industries. Data include 669 United States and 144 Japanese electronics firms. Demonstrates the relevance of a general organizational classification for explaining how different natural selection processes affect different populations. (75 references) (MLF)

The literature of bibliometrics suggests that the results of bibliometric studies can be of practical use in libraries by providing a scientific basis for collection management decisions. Reports on the application of these studies are virtually nonexistent and a number of reasons for this are suggested. (EM)

The role of the coauthor relationship in the structure of informal communications networks within disciplines is explored, and the validity of coauthor graphs used to map these relationships is tested for both small and large databases. (CLB)

This study with 39 secondary students with severe disabilities integrated into regular programs in either home schools or cluster programs found that the proportion of students residing outside the normal school boundaries and the percent of students classified as Severely Multiply Handicapped were both negatively associated with both in-school…

To test validity of cocitation studies as representations of intellectual structure, five-six years of aggregate cocitation data for 41 authors in macroeconomics and 49 authors in genetics of fruit flies were compared with independent judgments of interauthor similarity collected from 14 macroeconomists and 15 geneticists via a card-sorting…

Author cocitation analysis was used to investigate changes in intellectual structure of macroeconomics over two consecutive time periods, 1972-1977 and 1978-1983. Profile analysis, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and clustering techniques were used to create two-dimensional maps displaying changing relationships among 41 authors as perceived…

Techniques used in contemporary social network analysis are applied to citation data for a network of journals from three time periods--1970/71, 1975/76, 1980/81. Blocks or positions in journal network based on structural equivalence correspond closely to categorization by aims and objectives. Hypotheses concerning journal networks are advanced.…

Describes study that compared and judged the quality of subject indexing in online bibliographic databases. Documents from medical behavioral science literature are used with terms drawn from MEDLINE, PsychINFO, BIOSIS, and Excerpta Medica. Comparative statistics are presented on how each database links related documents and discriminates among…

Defines relationship between user profile and user query in terms of relationship between clusters of documents retrieved by each, and explores the expression of cluster similarity and cluster overlap as linear functions of similarity existing between original pairs of profiles and queries, given the desired retrieval threshold. (23 references)…