The growing Hispanic population has come into increasing contact with the larger population of non-Hispanic Whites. It is important to understand the effects of this contact on prejudice. The effects of six kinds of contact were examined for their effects on prejudice between Hispanics (n = 156) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 1,479) who were…

Confidence intervals are beginning to play an increasing role in the reporting of research findings within the social and behavioral sciences and, consequently, are becoming more prevalent in beginning classes in statistics and research methods. Confidence intervals are an attractive means of conveying experimental results, as they contain a…

MAXCOV-HITMAX was invented by Paul Meehl as a tool for the detection of latent taxonic structures (i.e., structures in which the latent variable, u, is not continuously, but rather Bernoulli, distributed). It involves the examination of the shape of a certain conditional covariance function and is based on Meehl's claims that (R1) Taxonic…

Multivariate permutation tests are described, and some are suggested as substitutions for Hotelling's one-sample T2 test in common situations in behavioral science research. A Monte Carlo study shows advantages of these tests when the T2 test fails or is suspect. (SLD)

Advantages and disadvantages of three analytic methods are discussed. A hypothetical data set is employed to make the discussion complete. It is suggested that commonality analysis can be usefully employed in research studies in education, particularly when aptitute-treatment interaction studies are involved. (Author/LMO)

Evaluates empirical studies on child development. Suggests that most such research consists of studies of a priori, nonempirical, logical relations between concepts, whose definitions guarantee the relationship studied. Argues that hypotheses are empirical if variables involved are semantically and logically independent. Research that is not based…

Comments on the ideas espoused by Smedslund (PS 522 552) in this issue. Agrees to the idea of spending more intellectual energy in distinguishing between a priori and empirical hypotheses but emphasizes that concepts are not always accurate reflections of reality and that even empirical disconfirmation of an a priori hypothesis sometimes can…

Power refers to the probability that a statistical test will yield statistically significant results. In spite of the close relationship between power and statistical significance, there is a consistent overemphasis in the literature on statistical significance. This paper discusses statistical significance and its limitations and also includes a…

If manufacturing a safer cigarette is technically possible--an open question--then mandating that tobacco manufacturers improve the safety of cigarettes would likely have both positive and negative implications for the nation's health. On the one hand, removing toxins may reduce the incidence of smoking-related diseases and premature mortality in…

In hypothetical scenarios involving two groups (nations or groups of workers), subjects voted on three proposals: one helped group A (their group), one helped B, and one helped both groups, more than the average of the first two but less than their maximum. When subjects voted for one proposal, most voted for the one that helped group A. This…

Methodological challenges associated with structural equation modeling (SEM) and structured means modeling (SMM) in research on school violence and related topics in the social and behavioral sciences are examined. Problems associated with multiyear implementations of large-scale surveys are discussed. Complex sample designs, part of any…