Discusses use of associative search techniques and theoretical approaches to document retrieval problems contrasting two different ways of improving system performance: appending associative search techniques to conventional document retrieval systems and designing document retrieval systems based on probabilistic design principles. Four…

To integrate empirical findings concerning the impact of leisure time television viewing on student achievement in grades K-12, 274 correlations were assembled from 23 studies. The effects were slightly positive for up to 10 hours of viewing a week, but beyond 10 hours the effects are negative and increasingly more deleterious. (Author/BW)

The Group Embedded Figures Test and the Hand Test were administered to 64 community-living females, aged 60 to 81 years old. Seven low but significant correlations were obtained between personality variables and field-dependence/independence. Findings suggest that many postulated field-dependence/independence personality relations change with old…

Virtually all parametric statistical procedures have been shown to be special cases of canonical correlation analysis. This article proposes a logic for conducting stepwise canonical correlation analyses, based upon evaluation of canonical communality coefficients. The procedure is a direct analogue of stepwise multiple regression. (Author/RD)

Adults took the Rod and Frame, Portable Rod and Frame, and Embedded Figures Tests. Absolute and algebraic frame-effect scores were more reliable and valid than rod-effect algebraic scores. Correlations with the Embedded Figures Test were so low that the interchangeability of these field articulation measures is questionable. (Author/RD)

Projections for school districts in Maine used a modified cohort survival projection technique. The technique's major factors are past district enrollment and live birth statistics. Projected enrollments are compared with actual enrollments using Pearson product-moment correlations and percentages of error. This provides accurate projections and…

Either Bartlett's chi-square test of sphericity or Steiger's chi-square test can be used to test the significance of a correlation matrix to determine the appropriateness of factor analysis. They were evaluated using computer-generated correlation matrices. Steiger's test is recommended due to its increased power and computational simplicity.…

Results of an educational innovation study, which related the degree of dissemination effort to the nature of the innovation itself, reveal a positive relationship between the diffusability index (rating methodology) and selected indicators of the actual dissemination (i.e., number of times articles apppear in newsapers, journals). Three…

When the precise basis of selection effect on correlation and regression equations is unknown but can be modeled by selection on a variable that is highly but not perfectly related to observed scores, the selection effects can lead to the commonly observed "overprediction" results in studies of predictive bias. (Author/PN)

New evidence on the validity of citation criteria as a measure for assessing the impact of scientific scholarship (based on a sample of 870 cancer research papers) shows that highly rated papers are more highly cited over the ensuing five years after publication. Thirty-seven references are listed. (EJS)

Recent literature suggests a causal link between malnutrition and impaired cognitive development. A selective literature review indicates that the presence or absence of such a link cannot be established. A reanalysis of an experiment indicated after four years of treatment there was no association between cognitive and nutritional status.…

To determine if the observed correlation between two variables can be "explained" by a third variable, a significance test on the partial correlation coefficient is often used. This can be misleading when the third variable is measured with error. This article shows how the problem can be partially overcome. (Author/BW)

Compares three statistical methods for measuring the weight of examination components in determining the ranking of overall results. The authors demonstrate the limitations in using standard deviation and part-with-whole correlations and show how covariance techniques provide the best indicators of component weights. Theoretical objections to the…