This study examined the writing strategies and text characteristics associated with discovering a scientific principle by writing about an experiment. Sixty-four university students (non-science majors) carried out a physics experiment concerning either buoyancy, or the forces acting on a balance scale, then wrote an informal journal-style note…

The purpose of this investigation was to apply a validated curriculum evaluation instrument, the "Science Curriculum Implementation Questionnaire" (SCIQ), in an educational context in which a science curriculum review had recently been completed and, by so doing, ascertain the accuracy and potential value of the instrument as a…

Background: Assessing the quality of life (QOL) for families that include a person with a disability have recently become a major emphasis in cross-cultural QOL studies. The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Family Quality of Life Survey (FQOL) on a Spanish sample. Method and Results: The sample comprised 385 families who…

Patient satisfaction studies concerning various treatment modalities are few among involuntary forensic psychiatric treatment. They indicate general satisfaction with medication, interactive treatment and occupational therapy but dissatisfaction with lack of privacy, insufficiently explained rules and inadequately explained reasons of seclusion.…

This paper undertakes a case study of a business school within a leading university in the Middle East, which has implemented a quality system and has gained accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. The paper reviews the development of the quality system and examines the concept of service quality…

The purpose of this study was to collect reliability and validity data on the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a quantitative measure based on Sternberg's (2000) theory of contextual modifiability. Data were collected from a national sample of middle school teachers and from teachers participating in a 3-year study investigating teachers'…

This article reports on the initial validation of the Fatherhood Scale (FS), a 64-item instrument designed to measure the type of relationship a male adult had with his father while growing up. The FS was validated using a convenience sample of 311 males. The assessment packet contained a demographic form, the Conflict Tactics Scale (2),…

Two studies addressed the psychometric properties of the Children's Hope Scale (CHS; Snyder et al., 1997). A sample of 460 high school students was administered the CHS along with measures of life satisfaction, extraversion, neuroticism, social support, and externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The results revealed adequate internal…

This study examined the validity of teacher assistant report of children's classroom peer play behaviors using the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS). Participants for the examination of construct validity were 344 urban Head Start children. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in a reliable three-factor solution, corroborating the…

Reliability and validity of three current instruments (Feminist Identity Scale [FIS], Feminist Identity Development Scale [FIDS]J Feminist Identity Composite [FIC]) used to operationalize Downing and Roush's model of feminist identity development were compared. A sample of 245 women completed all three instruments, and a separate sample of 35…

Five studies on the development of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Counseling Self-Efficacy Inventory (LGB-CSI) were conducted. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of an initial pool of 64 items yielded 5 factors that assess counselor self-efficacy to perform lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) affirmative counseling behaviors…

This research explores violent and property crime rates in nonmetropolitan counties. It is argued that crime rates are lower in these counties because of higher levels of social integration. We test the hypothesis that predictors of crime from social disorganization theory exert different effects on violent and property crimes at different levels…

This paper represents Part I of a two-part study examining preservice teachers' development of a personalized, research-based Science Teaching Rationale (STR). Researchers have historically documented the application of the "rationale paper" (Clough, 1992; Veronesi, 1998) using qualitative methodologies. Since the rationale paper continues to…

Patterns of language maintenance among immigrants have been researched widely, and lie at the core of daily life for immigrant families. The present study reports on a questionnaire developed to assess various aspects of language maintenance, focusing on parent-child communication. Parents and children of 307 immigrant families living in Sydney,…

Adults with predominantly severe and profound mental retardation (N = 180) who lived in a developmental center were assessed with the Behavior Problems Inventory and the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II. Individuals with self-injurious, stereotyped, or aggressive/destructive behavior had generally higher psychopathology scores…