Reviews of past research on psychosocial learning environments show that relatively few studies have involved the use of environment dimensions either as criterion variables in the evaluation computer education programs or with adult learners (in contrast to elementary and secondary school students). This study is distinctive in that it used a…

In this article, the authors focus on the concept of coherence, a relatively underexplored concept in teacher education. They investigate the relationship between students' perceptions of coherence and a number of structural features of teacher education programs to help develop a stronger definition of one important dimension of coherence--the…

This paper reports preliminary research into the nature of relative expertise in economic problem solving. Specifically, this report seeks to address the question of whether the presence of economic knowledge alone accounts for expertise in economic problem solving or whether both economic knowledge and the development and employment of economic…

This paper reports preliminary research into the nature of relative expertise in economic problem solving. The first section briefly describes why such research is needed in the context of research on expert and novice problem solving. It also presents the problem explored in this study in the context of the existing research. Subsequent sections…

This study continued the research on analogy problem-solving on psychometric tests pursued by I. I. Bejar, R. Chaffin, and S. Embretson (1991). Characteristics of a semantic taxonomy and a cognitively and empirically motivated intensional/pragmatic (I/P) dichotomy were explored. There were two research questions: (1) Could the results of Bejar et…

This paper establishes environmental attitude, a construct in environmental psychology, as a powerful predictor of ecological behavior. Based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, this study uses a unified concept of attitude and a probabilistic measurement approach. Questionnaire data from members of two ideologically different Swiss…

The Computer Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE) developed by C. A. Murphy, D. Coover, and S. V. Owen (1989) is an instrument purported to assess computer-related competencies. Previous research into the factor structure of the CSE has yielded conflicting results. In this study, the scale was used to collect data from 216 graduate education students. A…

A meta-analysis examined a series of studies by F.M. Dwyer on the effect of illustrations on text comprehension. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the four posttests used by Dwyer to more fundamental factors of learning, followed by analyses of variance. All nine studies (involving secondary-school and college students) in which…

This paper discusses a survey instrument that was developed to measure educators' receptivity to the inclusion of elements of global education in the curriculum. The instrument was designed to elicit attitudinal responses. Responses were measured using a six point, strongly-agree-to-strongly-disagree, Likert type scale. A random sample of K-12…

A study examined the interrelationships among the Listening Practices Feedback Report (LPFR) items to determine if an underlying theoretical construct of listening perceptions are measured by the LPFR. As part of LPFR listening training sessions, LPFR respondent and associate(s) scores were gathered from several major companies and organizations.…

A factor analysis study provided empirical evidence of the validity of the modified Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES) and its three subscales: mathematics problems self-efficacy, mathematics tasks self-efficacy, and college courses self-efficacy. The MSES was administered to 522 undergraduate students from three state universities and…

Many researchers recognize that factors can be rotated obliquely, yielding factors that are correlated with each other. However, not as many researchers realize that this interfactor correlation matrix can then also be factor analyzed. This "higher-order" factor analysis has many useful applications and, in fact, some researchers suggest…

A study examined the similarities and differences which exist in the professionalization of public relations in Austria, Norway, and the United States. Subjects, 136 of 188 members of the Public Relations Verband Austria, 150 of 300 members of the Informasjonsforeningen (Norway), and 272 of 500 members of the Public Relations Society of America,…

Prior to April 1, 1993, the education system in South Africa was fragmented along racial lines. Five departments of education existed, each with its own political head. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the organizational climate of the Department of Education and Training, which regulated education for the 10 major black…

A survey of 1,068 admitted graduate students at the University of Michigan examined the relative influence of factors affecting college choice decisions. Factor analysis of ratings of importance of 31 college characteristics yielded dimensions upon which student decisions are based. These results were used to build five scales of importance and…