The aim of this study was to develop a direct observational system in order to assess competitive behaviours in preschool children. Participants were 176 children (90 boys, 86 girls; M[subscript age]?=?5.2 years) from 10 kindergarten classes of one town of Central Greece. A new observational system (Observational System Assessing Competition in…

Increasing physical activity is a crucial component of any comprehensive approach to combat the growing obesity epidemic. This review summarizes recent behavioral research on the measurement of physical activity and interventions aimed at increasing physical activity and provides directions for future research.

Although curiosity is an undeniably important aspect of children's cognitive development, a universally accepted operational definition of children's curiosity does not exist. Almost all of the research on measuring curiosity has focused on adults, and has used predominately questionnaire-type measures that are not appropriate for young children.…

Research suggests that gambling is similar to addictive behaviors such as substance use. In the current study, gambling was investigated from a behavioral economics perspective. The Multiple Choice Procedure (MCP) with gambling as the target behavior was used to assess for relative reinforcing value, the effect of alternative reinforcers, and…

In recent years, researchers and practitioners in the behavioral sciences have profited from a growing literature on delay discounting. The purpose of this article is to provide readers with a brief tutorial on how to use Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Excel for Mac 2011 to analyze discounting data to yield parameters for both the hyperbolic…

Both spatial theories of voting and our intuitions lead us to expect that political parties' ideological positions should affect individuals' turnout decisions. Contrary to these expectations, existing research finds that neither feelings of alienation--that no party adequately represents an individual's ideological position--nor…

Article provides a review of behavioral objectives and questions what is measureable. (Author/MM)

It is asserted that Steven's viewpoint on measurement--that scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio--has a limited usefulness for behavioral scientists and researchers, and that it is necessary to develop an alternative. Some limitations of Steven's theory are discussed: (1) its assumptions about the nature and purpose of measurement; (2)…

This paper discusses the use of process-oriented research in early childhood programs. Process analysis is contrasted with outcome-oriented evaluation, the latter seen as prevalent in current research practice. Four functions of process analysis are: to describe current teaching practices, to train teachers, to monitor instructional programs, and…

WRITTEN TO PROVIDE INVESTIGATORS OR ADMINISTRATORS WITH A REVIEW OF THE PROBLEMS OF PLANNING, CONDUCTING, OR INTERPRETING STUDIES IN HUMAN RELATIONS TRAINING, THIS PAPER DISCUSSES RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND WAYS TO OVERCOME THEM. PROBLEMS OF SELECTION OF CONTROL GROUPS, TEMPORAL CHANGE IN TRAINING OUTCOME, DESIGN RESTRICTIONS IN OBSERVATION OF…