For the thirty-fifth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the national AECT Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

In an effort to determine differences between students who respond to surveys and those who do not, New Mexico State University at Alamogordo (NMSU-A) undertook a study of students in fall 1992. Students were asked to complete an 18-item questionnaire while waiting in lines during registration. The 1,618 out of 2,114 (76.5%) students who completed…

A review was done of how teacher training programs teach prospective teachers. After searching the literature for research on secondary English methods classes and finding none, the study solicited syllabi from over 300 universities across the country. Syllabi from 81 universities were received. Through analysis of the syllabi the study identified…

Action research, which, broadly defined, was one of the activities in which educators following in the footsteps of John Dewey engaged, emerged as a systematic approach for improving educational practice in the two decades following World War II. Action research then passed into relative obscurity. It has recently re-emerged in the educational…

A quasi meta-analysis approach was used to examine the research methodologies used to study issues related to youth (ages 13-25) and careers. Psychlit, ERIC, Dissertation Abstracts, and four journals were searched to identify articles for the study. A total of 67 articles from 18 different sources were analyzed. Eighty-seven percent were from…

In the third volume of this 10-volume report, 3 causal models of the school improvement process are presented and are used to identify outcomes of implementation and the factors influencing success. The first model predicts individual-level outcomes as a function of the magnitude of expected changes in instructional practice and the time spent on…

The purpose of this study was to teach students a way to interpret paintings metaphorically. Twenty seven art education majors were taught the clustering strategy to write metaphoric interpretations of three types of paintings (slides): realistic, abstract, and non-objective. Subjects were then randomized into two groups. Prior to using the…

The cost-effectiveness and impact on response rate of variations in mailing procedures involved in a mail survey of teacher education graduates were assessed. Variables studied were use of a preliminary or advance letter, postcard versus letter reminders as the first follow-up mailing, timing of the reminder (1 versus 2 weeks after the first…

The report documents a study conducted in 1979 by the University of Alaska's Cross-Cultural Education Development Program (X-CED) to use video tape to study the interaction of teachers and students and to look specifically at the teaching styles of the three Athabaskan teachers at an Interior Alaska Athabaskan community school. The study would…

This paper gives a method to determine a person's hypothetical conceptualization of an object -- its breakdown into subassemblies, subsubassemblies, and so on -- from the person's sequence of requests for pieces used in constructing it. A technique is given to determine whether, given a group of conceptualizations, there is a typical one. The…

Based on Maslow's characteristics of a "peak experience," 162 students in three introductory psychology classes and one personality class were asked to write a two-page paper describing a personal "peak experience." Papers were graded based on adherence to requirements, ability to apply Maslow's construct of the peak…

A study examined the validity of using questions concerning retirement expectations in large-scale micro surveys. A simple static labor supply model that considered wages, hours worked, and health data was developed for this purpose. Next, the model was implemented using data from the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) on the Labor Market…

Utilizing three different techniques, a follow-up survey of participants in a vocational education course was conducted to determine which technique collects the most useful information efficiently. The course participants were divided into thirds and, using the same questionnaire, data was collected from each third via one of the following three…

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO METHODS OF FIRST-GRADE BEGINNING READING INSTRUCTION WERE INVESTIGATED. APPROXIMATELY 920 FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN WERE DIVIDED INTO 2 GROUPS WHICH RECEIVED 1 OF THE 2 METHODS. TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN VARIABLES ON READING ACHIEVEMENT, THE CHILDREN WERE MATCHED IN PAIRS. THE RESULTS WERE GATHERED FROM ONE GROUP…

THE FIRST STAGE OF A RESEARCH PROJECT INVESTIGATING REINFORCER PREFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENTAL RETARDATES IS DESCRIBED. THE SUBJECTS, 12 MALES AND THREE FEMALES (CHRONOLOGICAL AGE 10 TO 22, MENTAL AGE 2.8 TO 8.7), WERE PRESENTED WITH A TASK IN WHICH 35MM COLOR SLIDES WERE PROJECTED ONTO A CONSOLE WINDOW. RESPONSES REQUIRED SUBJECTS TO CHOOSE AMONG…