Qualitative research evokes rather stereotyped responses from the mainstream of social science. The following 10 standardized responses to the stimulus "qualitative research interview" (QRI) are discussed: (1) it is not scientific, only common sense; (2) it is not objective, but subjective; (3) it is not trustworthy, but biased; (4) it is not…

Not infrequently, investigators assume that reliability for groups is greater than reliability for persons, or that the error variance for groups is less than that for persons. Using generalizability theory, it is shown that this "conventional wisdom" is not necessarily true. Examples are provided from the course-evaluation and the…

The International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed standards to provide a uniform framework for quality assurance in organizations' products and services. Commonly referred to as ISO 9000, these standards focus on achieving and sustaining the quality of the product or service produced to continuously meet purchasers' needs, and give…

Inspection of the 1972 revised norms for the Stanford-Binet demonstrate that the average mental age for a particular chronological age (CA) no longer numerically corresponds to that CA. Thus, mental ages derived from the test cannot any longer be interpreted as mental ages. A table of test ages based on the 1972 norms is provided. (Author)

This is the preliminary report of a new memory scoring method. Using the Wechsler Memory Scale as its base, it scores lateralized verbal and figural memory and long- and short-term memory. Six independent memory scales were developed. Studies of 105 subjects demonstrate that these scales are reliable and valid. (Author)

This paper examines those aspects of qualitative and quantitative research that might reasonably count towards effective educational research. The problem is addressed by examining their philosophical differences, their pursuit of objectivity, their approach to values, and the pursuit of reliability and validity. The possibility of rapproachment…

A favorable climate for developing and implementing a systematic substitute teacher program in the Ware County School System, which serves about 4,000 southeastern Georgia K-12 students, was created by mandates for the 1988-89 school year by the Georgia Board of Education. The program detailed within this document, written to comply with these new…

The overall poor quality of educational software on the market suggests that educators must continue efforts to evaluate available packages and to disseminate their findings. In this paper, weaknesses in published evaluation procedures are identified, and an alternative model, the York Educational Software Evaluation Scale (YESES), is described.…

Many studies which have investigated the differences between decided and undecided subjects have assumed homogeneity of both subsets, but results of these studies do not justify such a assumption. This study attempted to identify, multidimensionally, types of vocationally undecided college students. Data on 11 variables from 276 undecided…

The problem of change scores' correlation with initial status and the problem of low reliability in the measurement of change are addressed. By treating the correlation between initial status and change as a design problem rather than a statistical issue, research questions can be formulated in terms of changes in the shapes of growth curves…

Educational researchers have claimed that the quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational inquiry are, indeed, compatible. However, it would be unfortunate to discontinue this debate. The quantitative-qualitative debate began with the interpretive approach to social inquiry. Dilthey argued that since cultural/moral sciences differ from…

Because health behavior is often concerned with dynamic constructs, a longitudinal approach to measurement is needed. The Longitudinal Guttman Simplex (LGS) is a measurement model developed especially for dynamic constructs exhibiting cumulative, unitary development measured longitudinally. Data from the Television Smoking Prevention Project, a…

The In-Training Evaluation Report (ITER), in use by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for examining the competencies of candidates eligible for the certifying examination, was tested for validity and reliability. This analysis suggests revisions but declares the ITEA a useful instrument to aid in candidate assessment. (JT)

Measures of physical, mental, and social components of health status and general health ratings were studied for children ages 0-4 (N=679) and 5-13 (N=1473). Questionnaires were completed by adult proxies (usually mothers) in three generally healthy populations. Hypothesized multi-item scales were tested; reliability was estimated and preliminary…