Describes variation on role plays used in counselor education classes that teach lessons about the counseling process. (Author/CM)

Presents a model based on work by Schultz von Thun that helps to explain how to avoid misunderstandings in interpersonal communication. The model is then applied to interpersonal interactions in educational games, simulations, and workshops, and the insights it provides into how unnecessary and unintentional conflict may be avoided are discussed.…

Two independent replications of a sequence of simulations were conducted to aid in the diagnosis and interpretation of equating differences found between representative (random) and matched (nonrandom) samples for three commonly used conventional observed-score equating procedures and one item-response-theory-based equating procedure. (SLD)

Ball State University's New Venture Creation is a capstone course in which class sessions simulate workshops for understanding and analyzing business plans. Students present the resulting business proposals to a board of consultants and entrepreneurs, which evaluates them for feasibility. (SK)

Reviews the evolution of the journal "Simulation and Games" and examines the various topics addressed by contributors over the past 20 years. A history of gaming and simulation is given, and the results of a content analysis of all articles are provided. (LRW)

Discussion of the relationship between participants and the person who runs a game, simulation, or workshop focuses on similarities with the relationship between members of an organization and its manager. Motivation theories and the literature on management and organizational development are reviewed, and their implications for better management…

Responses to a 50-item, 4-choice test were simulated for 1,000 examinees under conventional formula-scoring instructions. Based on 192 simulation runs, formula scores and expected formula scores were determined for each examinee allowing and not allowing for inappropriate omissions. (TJH)

A generalization of the usual random-effects model based on trimmed means is proposed. The resulting test of no differences among J randomly sampled groups has advantages in terms of Type I errors and can yield gains in power when distributions have heavy tails and outliers. (SLD)

Traces the roots of social trap situations and describes a parasitism-symbiosis model, showing that when each organism attempts to maximize its survival potential without regard for the other's, neither does as well as when they behave collectively. Discusses a model social trap situation, "Prisoner's Dilemma" ("PD") and a…

Exact testing was evaluated as a method for conducting Mantel-Haenszel differential item functioning (DIF) analyses with relatively small samples. A series of computer simulations found that the asymptotic Mantel-Haenszel and the exact method yielded very similar results across sample size, levels of DIF, and data sets. (SLD)

Presents a connectionist approach to modeling that relies on neural networks to control conventional simulations of multimedia clinical patient simulations. These neural networks simplify the medical expert's task of validating and maintaining patient simulations with diagnostic capabilities and serves as the basis of clinical decision support…

A method for robust canonical discriminant analysis via two robust objective loss functions is discussed. Majorization is used at several stages in the minimization procedure to obtain a monotonically convergent algorithm. A simulation study and empirical data illustrate the procedure. (SLD)

A simulation study compares nonhierarchical clustering capabilities of a class of neural networks using Kohonen learning with a K-means clustering procedure. The focus is on the ability of the procedures to recover correctly the known cluster structure in the data. Advantages and disadvantages of the procedures are reviewed. (SLD)

In multigroup covariance structure analysis with structured means, the traditional latent selection model is formulated as a special case of phenotypic selection. Illustrations with real and simulated data demonstrate how one can test specific hypotheses concerning selection on latent variables. (SLD)

Discusses theoretical versus applied science and the use of the scientific method for analysis of social issues. Topics addressed include the use of simulation and modeling; the growth in computer power, including nanotechnology; distributed computing; self-evolving programs; spiritual matters; human engineering, i.e., molding individuals;…