A method is presented for determining sample size that will achieve a pre-specified bound on confidence interval width for the interrater agreement measure "kappa." The same results can be used when a pre-specified power is desired for testing hypotheses about the value of kappa. (Author/SLD)

Describes a classroom demonstration that illustrates the error of using an inappropriate test to conclude that a specific ability does not exist within a subject or a population. Shows ways to expand the lesson to cover the issue of null conclusions. Points out social and methodological implications of the demonstration. (Author/LS)

Evaluated alternate assessment methods by comparing subject assertiveness, two methods of scene presentation, and two methods of response generation in repeated measures design. For self-efficacy, printed scene plus experimenter-prepared response condition yielded significantly higher ratings than all other conditions. For outcome expectancy,…

Recognizes some of the limitations of the field of behavioral genetics, but argues that the methods employed in multivariate behavior genetics and developmental behavior genetics have become the dominant paradigms in the field. (MDM)

Supports Gottlieb's conclusion that developmental behavior genetics is unsuitable for analyzing developmental coactional processes because it does not concern itself with mechanisms through which genotypes are transformed into phenotypes. But maintains that modern behavior genetics provides an indispensable tool to analyze nonlinear epigenetic…

Asks why critical approaches to educational administration have rarely moved beyond critique to transformative process. This failure may stem from critical research's incompatibility with motivating and sustaining a complex change process. This article reviews two phases of critical research in education, identifies features enhancing research…

Sketches some events in the life and career of Lowry Nelson, a rural sociologist, and relates these events to the development of rural sociology and the Rural Sociological Society. Asserts that the dream of using science to ameliorate social problems during the early development of rural sociology is still present today. (KS)

Presents situations in which researchers can use the general linear model to uncover reasons for discrepant effect-size results of meta-analysis of similar studies. Situations include similarly labeled treatments or participants differing in important ways, treatment effectiveness varying by subject aptitude or situational variables, research…

Looks at the sociopolitical factors that influence the implementation of clinical intervention studies in long-term care settings and suggests ways of minimizing threats to a study's internal validity. (Author)

Social science today condones and perpetuates the egalitarian fiction that racial and ethnic groups never differ in average developed intelligence (general mental ability). Enforcement of this lie and avoidance of real research into these issues is aiding bigots more than the truth would and is degrading intellectual integrity. (SLD)

Examined ways to increase consent rates and documented guardians' reasons for not consenting to allow children to participate in sociometric research. Findings from guardians of 376 elementary students, 30 of whom refused to give consent, revealed that reasons for nonconsent ranged from children not wanting to participate to parents/guardians not…

Discusses two problems in the study by Blass and Ciaramitaro reported in this monograph: (1) whether the measurement of behavior states as "on-off" or "graded" captures a behavioral process or reflects the measurement itself; (2) whether the term "state" explains findings as a single function that may be better…

This paper reviews evidence that characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutterers change as a function of a number of variables and that, because these variables are difficult to fully control, comparison of the characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutterers and nonstutterers as a method of studying stuttering…

Asserts that several of the assumptions underlying Noam Chomsky's and W. V. O. Quine's theories of language acquisition and development are misleading or false. It is argued, among other things, that children do not "acquire" language, but rather learn how to participate in the linguistic community surrounding them. (99 references) (MDM)

Over the 17 years since a previous review by 2 of the present authors, the field of clinical neuropsychology has made advances in techniques, theoretical constructs, and statistical models. With careful attention to methodological issues and underlying concepts and hypotheses, the field will continue to thrive. (SLD)