Defends the use of verbal reports, or protocol analysis, as a valid means of understanding cognitive processes and writing processes. (SRT)

Investigates four developing readers' text processing by asking them to think aloud as they read five narratives and five expository texts over the course of a school year. Identifies five general categories of processing. Finds that while reading narratives, students hypothesized most of the time; and while reading expository texts, they…

This think-aloud study examined the process seven academics used in reasoning through a colleague's biochemistry course portfolio. Interview data indicated that participants used a normative, case-based reasoning approach, comparing reviewees' practices to their own experiences, their colleagues, and prototypical or traditional practices. They…

Argues that significant improvement in high school students' spelling can result from direct diagnostic teaching that helps disabled spellers analyze and overcome their problems. Presents a cognitively based error-analysis protocol which has the promise for providing the insights needed to enhance the effectiveness of spelling instruction for…

Reviews the history of verbal data in a variety of fields, places protocol analysis in its historical context, and examines more recent claims and criticisms regarding protocol analysis. Concludes that protocol analysis, when conducted according to certain principles, can be an important tool for researching the composing process. (MG)

Uses a think-aloud protocol to investigate how a professional actor analyzes a script to discern the plans his assigned character is following. Shows that the actor attends not only to the meaning but also to such elements of the text as structure, punctuation, and linguistic devices to determine the character's internal states and specific…

Discussion of indexing as a problem-solving activity focuses on an experiment that applied theories and methods from cognitive psychology to study interindexer consistency. Eight indexers (four novice and four experts) used two thesauri to index the same four documents. Three kinds of verbal reports were used to assess cognitive processes. (LRW)

Analysis of the think-aloud protocols used by advanced-level (n=9) English-as-a-Second-Language writers used in completing sentence-combining tasks showed that they engaged in such strategies as restating content, constructing meaning, higher- and lower-level planning, and evaluating the appropriateness of constructions, but not attending to…

College students (n=24) read passages marked for think-aloud (TA) procedure, not marked for TA, and control (no TA). The marked procedure elicited more veridical protocols, and students who scored high on the comprehension test were more likely to have made many TA comments reflecting a knowledge-transforming approach to the text. (SLD)

Outlines a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) perspective that accounts for protocol analysis along three key dimensions: the relationship between thinking and speech from a representational standpoint; the social role of speech in research methodology; and the influence of speech on thinking and data collection. (Author/VWL)

Investigates conscious understanding during narrative comprehension as revealed through use of think-aloud methodology. Presents an analytical model of conscious understanding. Identifies three working memory operations in the protocols--operations which are functionally necessary to inferences in the protocols. Discusses data and current models…

Forty-eight dysfunctional patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) were randomly assigned to treatments consisting of an intraoral appliance, stress management, and either nondirective supportive counseling or cognitive therapy. Results support tailored treatment of dysfunctional TMD. (KW)

Uses think-aloud protocols to triangulate previous research on the cognitive editing of messages. Finds evidence for existence of all but one of Hample and Dallinger's editorial standards that arguers (undergraduate students) apply in deciding whether to suppress or produce an idea in persuasive discourse. Shows these editorial standards are used…

Explores the verbal reflections of a competent fifth-grade speller as he performed word sorts, spelling lists, and creative writing activities. Finds the accuracy or inaccuracy of the student's statements were related to his level of spelling development, and each literacy task appeared to have a predominant category of responses. (RS)

Provides a qualitative procedure for gathering students' verbal protocols when using computers to solve ill-structured business problems. Presents a computer-aided problem-solving analysis model for protocols that reveal students' thinking processes, problem-solving methods, and computer problems encountered. (SK)