This review examines ethnicity reporting in three autism-related journals ("Autism," "Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities," and "Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders") over a 6-year period. A comprehensive multistep search of articles is used to identify ethnicity as a demographic variable in…

This paper identifies the need for developing new ways to study curiosity in the context of today's pervasive technologies and unprecedented information access. Curiosity is defined in this paper in a way which incorporates the concomitant constructs of interest and engagement. A theoretical model for curiosity, interest and engagement in new…

Concludes from review of the empirical literature and theories regarding retirement issues that industrial/organizational psychologists have the opportunity to contribute to knowledge about retirement because of their dual interests in both individuals and organizations and because of their tradition of scientific rigor. (Author/BL)

This article summarizes the properties of binomial and multinomial logit models, reviews applications of these models in recreation, and provides guidance to the technical literature on estimation techniques. Recommendations for improving models of recreation choice are offered. (DF)

This discussion covers the nature of paradigms and their use as research bases; the rationale behind this particular paradigm; interrelationships of the variables within the paradigm; and some possible uses of the paradigm in formulating research. (Author/CB)

Per definition, CSCL research deals with the data of individuals nested in groups, and the influence of a specific learning setting on the collaborative process of learning. Most well-established statistical methods are not able to analyze such nested data adequately. This article describes the problems which arise when standard methods are…

Provides brief analysis of methods for conducting research on distance education. Topics discussed include education research in general; qualitative versus quantitative research; the distinction between research and evaluation; the concept of triangulation as a research method; component research; and a conceptual framework for distance education…

This paper provides a brief overview of what is currently known about families of children with Down syndrome. In addition, it highlights a number of issues that require further research if we are to have a thorough understanding of the impact of a child with Down syndrome on families as a system and on the individuals who make up that system.…

Until experimenters can achieve some measure of control over access to information associated with their writing stimuli and outcome measures, research in composition will have a difficult time providing meaningful information on the unique effects on writing of such things as training programs, ethnicity, previous education, and sex. (HOD)

The conceptualization and measurement of key job characteristics has not changed greatly for most social scientists since the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Quality of Employment surveys were created, despite their recognized limitations. However, debates over the roles of job skill requirements, technology, and new management practices in…

Documenting treatment integrity is an important issue in research and practice in any discipline concerned with prevention and intervention. However, consensus concerning the dimensions of treatment integrity and how they should be measured has yet to emerge. Advances from three areas in which significant treatment integrity work has taken…

The concept of treatment integrity cuts across a diversity of fields involved with providing treatments or interventions to individuals. In medical treatments, the concept of "treatment compliance" or "treatment adherence" is an important and problematic issue. In the field of nutrition, the concept of "dietary adherence" is important for…

If they are to develop more effective social intervention strategies, social scientists must pay attention to social causality in their research. This will lead to more credibility for the social sciences and more support for research funds. Social causality is defined as a social process that produces a change in some dependent variable. It…

The overidentification of structural equation models with latent variables is discussed. The use of two- and three-indicator models is not recommended since such models do not allow a testing of the crucial assumption of unidimensionality among indicators in most cases. Models with four or more indicators may be more sensitive to departures from…

Appropriate methods are described for research workers in sociology to use as they perform causal analyses of data from surveys. Particular emphasis is placed on the causal analysis of qualitative variables. (Author/DB)