Provides brief analysis of methods for conducting research on distance education. Topics discussed include education research in general; qualitative versus quantitative research; the distinction between research and evaluation; the concept of triangulation as a research method; component research; and a conceptual framework for distance education…

Proposes that cultural and role variables within organizations will predict the extent to which individuals hold a collective or individualistic approach to organizational life. Finds that effects of participation and allocation on organizational participants is moderated by the culture of the organization and the roles individuals play within the…

Surveys 776 K-12 students from a rural Indiana school district, using various personal-attribute and personal-history inventories, to see whether students' self-concept scores correlated with their teachers' ratings of students' at-risk behaviors on the Potential Dropout Checklist. Although the personal-attribute inventories across all grade…

Individuals (n=199) with mental retardation referred for behavioral and psychiatric crisis intervention services were studied to determine attributes differentiating physically aggressive behavior from other behavioral problems. Aggression was predicted by gender, level of mental retardation, and history of previous institutional placement; the…

Baseline and heelstick measures of behavioral state, heart period, vagal tone, and salivary cortisol were obtained from 50 full-term newborns. Mothers completed Rothbart's Infant Behavior Questionnaire when the infants reached six months of age. Greater reactivity to the heelstick was associated with lower scores on the…

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…

In 2 studies, 200 mothers of 3-year-old boys and 87 mothers of 4- to 6-year-old boys completed measures of marital functioning and child behavior. Results indicated that parental child-rearing disagreements correlated with children's behavior problems and predicted a greater variety of behavior problems than did global marital adjustment. (BC)

Conceptual rationales from five research contexts are presented, which all posit unmeasured variables that interact with observed independent variables to produce a complete model of the dependent variable. Strategies for overcoming related difficulties are outlined, including increased longitudinal assessment, oversampling of levels of…

Surveyed African-American college student athletes (n=136) to examine cognitive and noncognitive variables as predictors of academic success. Examined demographic data sheets, responses to Non-Cognitive Questionnaire, decile class rank, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and college transcript data on respondents. Findings suggest the use of…

Finds that lexical level in a second language (L2) is a better predictor of reading in L2 that the learners' general ability, predicting certain failure (when the learner's lexical level is lower than 3,000 word families), or certain success (when the level is over 5,000). (SR)

Examined relationship between vocational identity and academic achievement for college freshmen (n=1,290). Results did not demonstrate relationship between vocational identity scores and grade point average. Results imply that counselors using vocational identity scores to target students in greatest need of career counseling may be missing many…

Responses from 228 of 400 4-H participants in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico revealed a 12.6% variance in scores, showing that participation in leadership activities positively affected youth leadership life skills development. Minority and female participants generally had higher scores. Skill development was also related to achievement…

Sound/syllable repetitions of 13 young children who stutter were acoustically analyzed to identify differences in second formant (F2) transitions between the stuttered and nonstuttered portions of the words. Findings indicated no significant differences in the frequency of occurrence of missing or atypical F2 transitions for young children at…

Outlines five perspectives contributing to an overall assessment of early childhood program quality: the top-down, bottom-up, outside-inside, inside, and ultimate (community and societal) perspectives. Use of multiple evaluation perspectives requires high inference levels for assessors and raises accountability issues. Unfortunately, appallingly…

Cluster analysis of responses from 551 veterinarians (63%) participating in continuing professional education supported Houle's typology of professionals as innovators, pacesetters, middle majority, or laggards, in terms of their attitude toward and previous participation in continuing education, expectations of significant others, and personal…