In educational effectiveness research, multilevel data analyses are often used because research units (most frequently, pupils or teachers) are studied that are nested in groups (schools and classes). This hierarchical data structure complicates designing the study because the structure has to be taken into account when approximating the accuracy…

The United States' National Institute for Literacy's (NIFL) review of adult literacy instruction research recommended adult education (AE) programs assess underlying reading abilities in order to plan appropriate instruction for low-literacy learners. This study developed adult reading ability groups using measures from power tests and speeded…

The main purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the association between four constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) (i.e. perceived severity of smoking-related health problems, perceived susceptibility to smoking-health related problems, perceived barriers to non-smoking and perceived benefits of non-smoking) and cigarette smoking …

Objective: To understand how parental influences on dairy food intake relate to early adolescent children's use of calcium-fortified food. Design: Content analysis of qualitative interviews to identify parental influences on dairy intake; calcium-fortified food survey to identify children as either calcium-fortified food users or nonusers. Setting…

Context: It has long been a concern that professional liability problems disproportionately affect the delivery of obstetrical services to women living in rural areas. Michigan, a state with a large number of rural communities, is considered to be at risk for a medical liability crisis. Purpose: This study examined whether higher malpractice…

One of the most prevalent forms of violence in contemporary society is the victimization of intimate partners. Although it has been established that homeless young people experience high levels of victimization on the street, little is known about partner violence (PV) experiences among this group, especially bidirectional violence. As such, the…

Since Jane Knitzer's 1982 report on "Unclaimed Children", many states and localities have been developing systems of care to more effectively serve children with serious emotional disturbance. We report on the methods and outcomes of a two-phase study designed to determine the relationship between the mechanisms that have been used to establish…

Principal components analysis (PCA) is used to explore the structure of data sets containing linearly related numeric variables. Alternatively, nonlinear PCA can handle possibly nonlinearly related numeric as well as nonnumeric variables. For linear PCA, the stability of its solution can be established under the assumption of multivariate…

As Web 2.0 tools and technologies increase in popularity in consumer markets, enterprises are seeking ways to take advantage of the rich social knowledge exchanges that these tools offer. The problem this study addresses is that it remains unknown whether employees perceive that these tools offer value to the organization and therefore will be…

Objectives: To accurately count the number of infant maltreatment-related fatalities and to use information from the birth certificates to predict infant maltreatment-related deaths. Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort study of infants born in Alaska for the years 1992 through 2005 was conducted. Risk factor variables were ascertained…

The objective of the study was to see whether a teacher-coach exhibits different types of leadership behavior when s/he teaches a PE class and coaches a group of athletes. The participants in this study were 17-18 year old second-year preuniversity students from two local junior colleges in Singapore. A total of 159 students of mixed gender…

The teaching beliefs and classroom practices of 54 kindergarten teachers were assessed using a Q-sort measure. Cluster analysis of the Q-sort responses revealed four instructional approaches that differed in their focus on literacy skills, social development and self-esteem. In addition, measures of emergent literacy skills, classroom behaviour…

Context: Scope of practice is an important factor in both training and recruiting rural family physicians. Purpose: To assess rural Idaho family physicians' scope of practice and to examine variations in scope of practice across variables such as gender, age and employment status. Methods: A survey instrument was developed based on a literature…

Objective: This study examined whether the age of parents predicted maternal harsh parenting behavior, specifically whether younger mothers might be at higher risk than older mothers, and which paternal characteristics might be associated with maternal parenting behavior. Methodology: This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child…

The aim of this research was twofold: to examine the prevalence of employment and under-employment among Taiwanese older workers (aged 50 and above), and to explore personal correlates of their employment status, in particular gender and education. Using a national representative sample, we found that: 1) a rather substantial percentage of people…