The effects of task-overlapping linguistic noise on activity and performance of hyperactive and control children were assessed. Results suggest that task difficulty may play a role in the effects of overlapping stimulation on both groups. (Author/GK)

Human relations development techniques, espoused by Carkhuff, fail to rest upon a sound empirical base, well illustrated by the research study reported by Wiggins. Comments aim at refuting the Wiggin's claim that his findings validate the Carkhuff paradigm as an effective model. (Author/BEF)

Recognition of radio and television antismoking messages was measured in 6 treatment and 4 control cities. A survey of 574 adolescents found high recognition of messages even in areas where they were not broadcast, reinforcing the need for true control groups and distinctive messages to ensure validity in mass media evaluation. (SK)

An evaluation of one therapeutic service offered to sexually abused children in the United Kingdom exposed the methodological issue of false negatives among the comparison group, suggesting that researchers cannot assume that nonreferred comparison subjects have not actually experienced sexual abuse. (DB)

Explores issues in evaluating exemplary programs, including the measurement of the degree to which the program is exemplary or promising. Suggests that comparison (control) group analysis can mislead researchers about the effectiveness of a program and suggests the use of gain scores to identify exemplary programs. (SLD)

Several recent studies are identified that used expert ratings of the job performance of certified professionals as a validation criterion. These studies showed a strong relationship between expert ratings and certification, but were susceptible to alternative interpretations due to design constraints. Inclusion of control constructs is presented…

Outlines some nonrandomized constructed comparison strategies that can be used to evaluate interventions for children and illustrates their use for outcome variables that would be expected to change over age if no treatment were given. The proposed strategy consists of determining an expected age function for the dependent variable using pretest…

Describes a method that uses program participants' compliance with program instructions as a means of classifying participants and in that way obtains a randomized control group for a subset of participants. Illustrates two variations of the method through a large smoking-intervention project. (SLD)

This article presents the results of a study that assessed the effect of privatized management on social service availability, utilization, and resident satisfaction in public housing communities. The respondents were heads of household who lived in public housing "projects" in Miami, Florida -- more than 90 percent of whom were African…

Objective: To evaluate the relative efficacy of (1) individual cognitive-behavioral family-based therapy (CBFT); (2) group CBFT; and (3) a waitlist control group in the treatment of childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: This study, conducted at a university clinic in Brisbane, Australia, involved 77 children and adolescents with…

Criterion and construct validation analyses support the use of both retrospective questions in lieu of a pretest and a methodological innovation to compensate for the absence of a control group in a program evaluation that calls for an unavailable experimental design. The findings obtained with this method present evidence that study abroad…

Impaired speech prosody has been identified as a critical feature of suspected childhood apraxia of speech (sCAS). Lexical stress productions of children with sCAS have been characterized as 'excessive/equal/misplaced'. This investigation examines two potential explanations of this particular deficit, articulatory difficulty and impaired intrinsic…

Data from an ongoing longitudinal study examined resilience (competent performance under adverse conditions) in a community sample of children of alcoholics (COAs n=216) and matched controls (n=201). The study examined the prevalence of competence and whether the relation of competence to internalizing and positive affect differed for COAs and…

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of MultiFunk, a computer program designed to assist reading, on the reading and spelling proficiency of struggling readers. Fifty-two below-average readers and spellers, in grades 5, 6 and 7, were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups (N = 26 + 26). In addition, 114 classmates,…

The purpose of study was to investigate the impact of pre-surgical Infant Orthopaedics (IO) on consonant production at 18 months of age in children with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate (UCLP) and to compare the consonant production to that of age-matched children without clefts. The first ten children in a consecutive series of 20 with UCLP…