The principal technological developments that underlie the communication revolution, especially the transistor and the computer, are reviewed in a nontechnical way. A number of devices and communication subsystems, such as cable television, ultramicrofiche, and communication satellites, that make use of these developments are then described,…

Research in education has not been relevant because: 1) Decision makers have been making decisions without research findings and see no need for this kind of information now; 2) Research findings in the local schools are usually made available to the decision-maker or administrator after the decisions have been implemented; 3) Researchers feel the…

Criticizes and examines the motives behind Charles Murray's "The Bell Curve." Murray's book claimed that many social problems, including crime and poverty among blacks, could be explained by African Americans' lack of intelligence as evidenced by testing. Reveals the book's skewed methodology as well as its interest-guided financial…

Research questions that test the interaction between either categorical variables or multiplicative expressions are commonly found in multiple regression and analysis of variance applications. In contract, research questions posing an interaction between observed variables in a path analytic model are not commonly found in the literature. This is…

This study examined empirical research on shyness, inhibition, and social withdrawal published in "Child Development,""Developmental Psychology," and "Development and Psychopathology" between 1990 and 1996, focusing on: (1) conceptual definitions; (2) operational definitions; (3) agreement between conceptual and…

Based on a session at a recent National Reading Conference meeting in which researchers shared the dilemmas they faced and the strategies they developed for coping with the complexity of new forms of research, this paper examines some of the ethical dimensions of collaborative research. Following a discussion of the trade-offs in collaborative…

The analysis of covariance as a procedure for statistical correction of the effects for an extraneous variable, called a "covariate," is presented. An heuristic data set is used to make the discussion of the calculation of ANCOVA partitions easier to follow. A discussion of homogeneity of regression as an essential condition to be met…

Despite its longevity as an educational activity, little empirical evidence exists to support the notion that academic debate is of value to participants. Numerous contemporary texts have proposed and advanced the claim that debating enhances the critical thinking skills of participants. Several of these texts find this claim so apparent that it…

This repeated measures factorial design study compared the results of two procedures for identifying multivariate outliers under varying conditions, the Mahalanobis distance and the Andrews-Pregibon statistic. Results were analyzed for the total number of outliers identified and number of false outliers identified. Simulated data were limited to…

In psychological and special education research, group comparison experimental designs are more often used than single subject experimental designs. However, the application of group designs poses many difficulties, such as the collection of large numbers of homogeneous subjects for a particular experimental condition, the averaging of individual…

Although a large body of research has investigated the possibility of motivational or attitudinal differences in men and women that would explain observable differences in levels of achievement, much of this research has failed to produce results. The failure of researchers to consider the characteristics of their college-student samples may have…

The value of physical or corporal punishment is disputed among psychologists; most regard it as harmless, although a subgroup of researchers has controversially suggested that parental use of physical punishment may be causally related to the development of aggression. Thus, the psychological community appears to have separated into determined…

This literature review examines research issues in anorexia nervosa, including conceptual issues and methodological considerations. Research on the family's contribution to the disorder is reviewed. The demographic characteristics of social class, birth order, history of sexual abuse, and biological and genetic factors are examined. Individual…

The paper examines the goals and effects of early intervention with infants at risk for possible developmental problems. Four components of San Francisco Infant Program are noted: (1) services to children, (2) parent involvement, (3) a transdisciplinary team approach, and (4) a research-based model. The research problems associated with…

Three computer simulations were conducted to show that very high aggregate predictive validity coefficients can occur when the across-case variability in absolute score stability occurring in both the predictor and criterion matrices is quite small. In light of the increase in internal consistency reliability achieved by the method of aggregation…