Findings from a survey of undergraduates demonstrate links between students' experience level and their perceptions and expectations of large classes. The authors made a number of hypotheses, including that students prefer active-learning experiences but expect passive-learning experiences, that experienced students prefer large classes but…

This paper presents selected findings from an ESRC-funded research project examining the choices and occupational aspirations of 59 students approaching the end of their compulsory schooling. It concentrates on the development of a choice model conceptualising the decisionmaking processes of the young people involved in the study, whilst avoiding…

A positive school climate is an important component of successful and effective schools and thus is often an aim of schoolwide initiatives. Climate has traditionally been conceptualized as a school-level factor and is often assumed to be related to other school-level factors (e.g., school size). The current study examines variation in perceptions…

The relationship of several individual differences variables to Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) as compared with traditional written tests are explored. Seven hundred sixty-five examinees took a Computer Adaptive Test and two fixed-length written tests. Each examinee also answered a computer literacy inventory, a satisfaction questionnaire, and a…

This study examined individual differences in parent-child play styles and their links with children's play behavior with peers. Mothers and fathers were videotaped playing with their toddler in toy play and physical play, and completed a project-designed questionnaire on their beliefs about child development. Children were observed separately in…

Three important methods areas of multivariate analysis that are not always thought of in terms of latent variable constructs, but for which latent variable modeling can be used to great advantage, are discussed. These methods are: (1) random coefficients describing individual differences in growth; (2) unobserved variables corresponding to missing…

This study examined children's explanatory style for health- and safety-related events. Fifty children (ages 8 to 11) were interviewed using 12 health-related questions based on Seligman's Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE) method. Children and their mothers also completed a health status form, which included questions on the…

The field of educational technology was built on the positivist, modernist search for a best medium towards universal communication and the teaching of predetermined behavior and thinking patterns. Once, this medium was thought to be motion pictures, then television, then programmed instruction, and today it is hoped that it will be instructional…

This study was conducted to assess the effects of incest using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Women (N=81) seeking counseling for issues related to an incestuous childhood and nonsexually abused adult female counseling clients (N=90) completed the MMPI and a background information questionnaire. The groups were compared by…

This study examined mothers' conceptualizations of their relationships with their children in relation to the quality of their attachment with them. In a brief interview, 58 mothers were asked about their satisfaction with their relationship with their child and with a non-attachment topic (division of household chores). Mother-child attachment…

This study assessed estimation skills on both static and transformation (conservation) tasks on numerosities ranging from 3 to 16, and included addition and subtraction trials to control for response bias. A total of 148 four- and five-year-old children estimated the number of balls of yarn sewn on elastic straps, and participated in 1 addition, 1…

This study examined prior qualitative differences in the process of the emergence of verb use in two sisters when they were each 12 to 24 months of age (the older sister is 2 years and 9 months older than the younger sister). Daily diaries on both children were kept by the mother, who noted emergent structure and vocabulary. Systematic Analysis of…

Previous research has suggested that behavioral differences between shy and not shy persons may be explained by differences in inhibition rather than differences in interpersonal skills. To investigate the behavior of high and low social anxiety subjects in both ambiguous social situations and in explicitly structured ones, three studies using…

Designed to gain a more thorough understanding of the cognitive processes involved and apply this knowledge in defining improved teaching strategies, this study of contour interpretation (referred to as "position fixing") required 12 subjects to locate their position on a map after being transported, blindfolded, to test sites where…

Three studies explored age, sex, and individual differences in children's defensiveness about four feelings: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Also investigated was the relation between children's defensiveness and their mothers' comfort with and expression of feelings. Participants included children ranging in age from 4 through 11 years of…