This comprehensive "Handbook" focuses on the most used polytomous item response theory (IRT) models. These models help us understand the interaction between examinees and test questions where the questions have various response categories. The book reviews all of the major models and includes discussions about how and where the models…

Finding solutions to complex health problems, such as obesity, violence, and climate change, will require radical changes in cross-disciplinary education, research, and practice. The fundamental determinants of health include many interrelated factors such as poverty, culture, education, environment, and government policies. However, traditional…

Discusses the problem of how library education fits into higher education. The aspects of library education that are most compatible with academic rather than professional values are described, and organizational models of library education are defined that can respond to the problems noted. (EM)

Reviews the barriers to involving American Indians in educational research and proposes a method of training American Indian researchers within mainstream of graduate education. Presents a model for the design, collection, and annotation of American Indian research materials. Uses the American Indian family as a topic to illustrate the model. (SB)

A model for problem solving stressing both psychological and cultural influences is presented. This model is based on the analyses of how graduate students (n=10) solve organic synthesis problems, along with two models of problem solving and a constructivist epistemological stance. (KR)

While graduate programs in instructional design provide education in communications theory, media research, information systems, motivation theory, and behavioral and cognitive psychology, practice in the field often reflects a more pragmatic approach. In October 1985, Training Magazine surveyed thousands of training professionals responsible for…

Theorists, researchers, and practitioners should be problem solvers, and need to integrate research findings within practical models. Given a defined instructional problem, the recommendation of an appropriate solution should be based on the realization that only prescriptive design theory emphasizes methods and presentation specifications, and…

Results of investigation of M.L.S. degree students' needs for structure in required research methods course support hypothesis that, when exposed to such a course taught under low structure conditions, students with simple cognitive style would express demand for greater structure than would students with relatively complex cognitive style. (12…

The conceptual and technical problems that need to be considered when studying graduate student retention and degree progress are examined, and practical suggestions for the institutional researcher are offered. Terms are defined, retention measures are explained, and different types of analysis are outlined. Ideas are given for database…

Outlines a plan to provide professional, graduate-level courses to adult students off-campus. Based on experiences at the British Open University, audiocassettes and printed support materials were used at Brigham Young University as the delivery system for a management course. The examination scores of on-campus and off-campus students are…