Explores editorial decision processes and outcomes using manuscripts reviewed for "Rural Sociology" from 1978-81. Examines 10 characteristics of successful and unsuccessful manuscripts and finds 5 characteristics constituting a discriminant function model: number of review rounds, author membership in Rural Sociological Society, referee…

Results of data analysis on 470 journal titles illustrate complexity of the fuzzy set theory modeling process, which consists of three factors--number of missing issues, citations, circulations--and its limitations in making journal binding decisions. Procedures of research, data collection, and data analysis are discussed. Matrices are included.…

A study of the predictive validity of Tinto's theory of college student attrition is described. Compensatory interaction between levels of goal and institutional commitment indicated that institutional commitment had its greatest positive influence on retention for students with low levels of commitment to completing a college degree, and vice…

The possibility of using student academic status data available at the time of application for admission to clinical nursing courses in a baccalaureate program to predict performance on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses is explored. (Author/MLW)

This study's main purpose was to determine whether or not standard predictors of college success'' might perform more satisfactorily than usual if a 2-valued criterion based on dropouts was employed. (Author)

By means of a multiple discrimination function analysis it is possible to reject the hypothesis that musicality, as measured by the tests in Wing's battery, is entirely influenced by hereditary factors. (Author)

The ideal item in the criterion-referenced testing situation is the item with a nonsignificant discrimination index and a high difficulty level; items that discriminate negatively are clearly unacceptable; and items that discriminate positively usually indicate a need for revision. (Author)

Illustrates the use of discriminant methodology for measuring therapeutic effectiveness in a study comparing personality traits of adolescent drug users and nonusers (N=80). Results indicated that discriminant techniques can establish a database against which to measure effectiveness when clear distinctions exist between acceptable and…

Used discriminant analysis in an attempt to differentiate nonviolent and violent families as a function of variables said to be significant predictors of family violence in a decade review by Gelles. Results indicate that the predictor variables fail to account consistently for differences among the groups. (Author)

Ten pitfalls for financial analysts are described: information lags, misinterpreting trend data, data shortcomings, sample institutions' problems, misuse of panel ratings, using same indicators for private and public institutions, underdevelopment of conceptual framework, arbitrary financial health scales, shaky use of discriminant analysis, and…

Describes a study that compared academic achievement, personality (locus of control), and response to interpersonal stimuli in father-absent and father-present Black children from grades 3-8. (GC)

Results of this study of eight liberal arts colleges, traditionally women's colleges, suggest that multiple-discriminant analysis provides a rigorous and practical basis for adding an important and largely unexplored between-group dimension to studies in the prediction of within-group performance. (Editor/LBH)

Finds that, for 147 Florida migrant farm workers interviewed in 1978, support for unionization was related, in descending order, to being Black, to perceiving mechanization as a threat, and to being dependent on farm work, married, a non-citizen, illiterate, and poorly educated. Contains 22 references. (SV)

Multi-group discriminant analysis was used to identify the pre-enrollment demographic and academic factors that best separate the success classes in the first-year examinations of science students at the University of Benin. The predictor of success was performance in specialist subjects of the matriculation examination. (Author/MLW)