Responds to an article in the same issue of the journal presenting a meta-analysis of reading research. Discusses limitations of meta-analysis; changing views of research; influential instructional research; and changing standards, changing possibilities. (RS)

Reports on a meta-analysis of 34 news diffusion studies to show that the general importance of a story is positively associated with the level of diffusion and likelihood of hearing the news interpersonally but not the rate of telling others. Indicates that news that is personally relevant to an individual is more likely to be discussed with…

Conducted meta-analytic review of 27 studies on social skills training with schizophrenics, addressing magnitude of treatment effects relative to outcome measures, extent of generalization and maintenance of treatment effects, and impact of diagnostic clarity and training variations. Found that social skills training had strong, positive impact on…

Conducts a meta-analysis of 23 manuscripts containing information on 30 experiments that examined communication apprehension and cognitive performance. Finds a statistically significant negative correlation between communication apprehension and cognitive performance. (MG)

Considers the relation between meta-analysis statistics and analysis of variance statistics. Discusses advantages and disadvantages as a primary data analysis tool. Argues that the two approaches are partial paraphrases of one another. Advocates an integrative approach that introduces the best of meta-analytic thinking into primary analysis…

Analyzes empirical findings and conceptual problems to clarify how sex differences are related to communication. Finds that conceptual reasons for the muddled picture of sex differences in communication research include reliance on stereotypes, polarization of the sexes, lack of valid reasons, and dearth of theory. (SR)

Conducted meta-analysis of 17 studies examining efficacy of psychosocial treatments for depression among older adults. Treatments were reliably more effective than no-treatment on self-rated and clinician-rated measures of depression. Effect sizes for studies involving participants with major depression disorder were reliably different from zero,…

Proposes a new method, reliability generalization, for meta-analysis. Reliability generalization characterizes the typical reliability of scores for a test across studies, the amount of variability in reliability coefficients, and the sources of this variability. Analysis of 87 reliability coefficients for two scales of the Bem Sex Role Inventory…

Describes the early stages of development of the Campbell Collaboration Social, Psychological, Educational & Criminological Trials Register (C2-SPECTR) to help those preparing and maintaining systematic reviews of experiments in these fields. The register currently contains more than 10,000 records, including more than 300 references to existing…

Looks at criticisms of public administration research: (1) knowledge in the field is not being accumulated, and (2) the research has low quality. Proposes meta-analysis as a solution to the first problem. Suggests that quality judgments should be based on knowledge cumulation, which acknowledges the value of all research methods. (Contains 48…

Suggests that replication research and meta-analysis are not substitutes for statistical significance testing, but rather, like measures of effect size, they are complements to statistical significance testing. Significance testing does provide a means for determining what might be usefully replicated. (SLD)

Reviewed the literature on interventions to promote self-determination for individuals with disabilities and performed a meta-analysis of 22 studies to investigate the nature and outcomes of such interventions. Discusses results with regard to the idea that self-determination can be taught and learned. (SLD)

Replies to commentary by J. Cameron asserting that the negative results of extrinsic reward on intrinsic motivation are limited and avoidable. Suggests that the most recent meta analysis by Cameron and others shares methodological weaknesses with an earlier analysis, lacking ecological validity. (SLD)

Studied the effect of including nonindependent correlations in the meta-analysis method of J. Hunter and F. Schmidt on the estimated population standard deviation. Evaluation indicates that the Hunter and Schmidt method will underestimate the true population standard deviation. Developed new methods to correct for this and illustrated the methods…

Describes meta-analysis, including criticisms; reviews its use in resolving disagreements regarding the results of research in psychotherapy, school funding, and medicine. (Contains 43 references.) (PKP)