Context: Decades of behavioral research suggest that awareness of health threats is a necessary precursor to engage in health promotion and disease prevention, findings that can be extended to the community level. Purpose: We sought to better understand local perspectives on the main health concerns of rural Appalachian communities in order to…

The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics has updated the household and prison public-use data files for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy and the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. The accompanying 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Public-Use Data File User's Guide explains how the data…

This article presents information on the development and validation of the Facial Expression Coding System (FACES; A. M. Kring & D. Sloan, 1991). Grounded in a dimensional model of emotion, FACES provides information on the valence (positive, negative) of facial expressive behavior. In 5 studies, reliability and validity data from 13 diverse…

This report describes the system used to code each segment of Square One TV for content analysis of all four seasons of production. The analysis is intended to aid in the assessment of how well Square One is meeting its three goals: (1) to promote positive attitudes toward, and enthusiasm for, mathematics; (2) to encourage the use and application…

This digest provides an introduction to content analysis, a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of a text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding. This allows inferences to be made that can then be corroborated using other methods of data collection. In a technical sense, content analysis is not…

Describes how the College Board will stop flagging the scores of test-takers who were granted extra time on the SAT because of disabilities. (EV)

Proposes a new rule system and notation that supports the characterization of a document based on its structure or architecture (primarily linear, paper-copy media). Examples of the application of the notation are provided. (Author/JKP)

Analyzes the computational complexity of optimal binary tree pruning for tree-structured vector quantization. Topics discussed include the combinatorial nature of the optimization problem; the complexity of optimal tree pruning; and finding a minimal size pruned tree. (11 references) (LRW)

Discusses the minimum average codeword length coding under the constraint that the codewords are monotonically nondecreasing in length. Bounds on the average length of an optimal monotonic code are derived, and sufficient conditions are given such that algorithms for optimal alphabetic codes can be used to find the optimal monotonic code. (six…

Discusses the adaptive compression of computer files of numerical data whose statistical properties are not given in advance. A new lossless coding method for this purpose, which utilizes Adelson-Velskii and Landis (AVL) trees, is proposed. The method is effective to any word length. Its application to the lossless compression of gray-scale images…

Offers new sibling constellation coding method (Base 32) for genograms using binary and base 32 numbers that saves considerable microcomputer memory. Points out that new method will result in greater ability to store and analyze larger amounts of family data. (Author/CM)

Assessed the effects of postorganization activities on the acquisition of information presented in a knowledge-map format. Results from two experiments involving 145 college students suggest that postorganization activities that emphasize spatial encoding enhance the effectiveness of knowledge maps, especially with respect to superordinate…

Explores current methods for deploying EAD (Encoded Archival Description) electronic finding aids to identify the most promising practices being used, examines types of evaluation archivists are gathering from end-users regarding deployment methods, and identifies archivists' perceptions regarding the use of EAD-encoded finding aids based on an…

Provides an overview of content analysis, a powerful data reduction technique. It is a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding. The technique extends far beyond simple word frequency counts, but requires careful definition of categories. (SLD)

The prominent role of Boolean classes in qualitative data analysis software is viewed by some as an encroachment of logical positivism on qualitative research methodology. The authors articulate an embodiment perspective, in which Boolean classes are viewed as conceptual metaphors for apprehending and manipulating data, concepts, and categories in…