Presents 10 myths about depressed children and adolescents and then dispels each with facts. Includes discussion of diagnostic criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition for Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder. Distinguishes between depressive disorders in children/adolescents and in…

Provides a guide to the basic concepts of adaptations, exaptations, and spandrels involved in the current dispute over evolutionary explanations. Clarifies the role that each of these concepts plays in an evolutionary approach to human psychology. Contains over 100 references. (MMU)

Obtaining informed consent for older adults can be problematic if there is a question of the person's competency. This article discusses the current literature and research concerning competency as it relates to an elderly person's ability to provide informed consent. Criteria and instruments that are utilized to determine competency are…

Presents a variation of a "greedy" algorithm that can be used in test-assembly problems. The algorithm, the normalized weighted absolute-deviation heuristic, selects items to have a locally optimal fit to a moving set of average criterion values. Demonstrates application of the model. (SLD)

Discusses the process of personnel selection as an element of performance improvement and suggests that how well a potential employee will fit into the organizational culture should be a selection criteria. Describes five steps to integrate organizational culture into the personnel selection process, including an internal organizational cultural…

Notes that there is little consistency among review processes of nursing journals. Recommends a standardized peer review system, establishment of guidelines for referees, and introduction of open rather than anonymous reviewing. (SK)

States that time and money limitations make it impossible to do usability testing on every document, particularly by controlled observation. Describes approaches intended to make feedback from testing useful, including judicious selection of what to test and how, special studies on issues of general importance, and better ways of making new…

The Bulimia Test--Revised (BULIT-R) was given to 23 female subjects who met the criteria for bulimia in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-IV) and 124 female controls. The BULIT-R appears to be a valid instruction for identifying individuals who meet DSM-IV criteria for bulimia. (SLD)

Discusses client satisfaction criteria relevant to human performance consultants and explains the CREDIT model that represents what clients consider most important. Examines CREDIT: Client needs, Relationships, demonstrating Expertise and experience, creating Deliverables, Interpersonal skills, and Tracking and project managing. (LRW)

Investigates attitudes of mental health counselors toward rational suicide. Over 80% of respondents were moderately supportive of the idea that people can make well-reasoned decisions that death is their best option, and further, they identified a consistent set of criteria to evaluate such decisions. Discusses implications for training and…

Illustrates how the scholarship of teaching could be assessed, recognized, and rewarded, addressing both formative and summative evaluations. Addresses the question of who should determine the standards and criteria by which to review and critique the scholarship of teaching and whether studies in the scholarship of teaching should be required to…

Many schools are moving to develop benchmark tests to monitor their students' progress toward state standards throughout the academic year. Benchmark tests can provide the ongoing information that schools need to guide instructional programs and to address student learning problems. The authors discuss six criteria that educators can use to…

The Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research Subcommittee (IQRS) of the Task for on Evidence-based Interventions in School Psychology assumed the responsibility of developing criteria for reviewing qualitative methods used in intervention research. The IQRS, composed primarily of psychologists and anthropologists, was confronted with the…

"What gets assessed is what gets taught" is a common assertion whose meaning is often underestimated. It is not just what gets assessed, but how it is assessed that has implications for what is learned. When a child who is asked the meaning of his report card grades responds, "If I knew that I'd be the teacher" he is saying something about the…

The authors evaluated 4 sequential sampling models for 2-choice decisions--the Wiener diffusion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) diffusion, accumulator, and Poisson counter models--by fitting them to the response time (RT) distributions and accuracy data from 3 experiments. Each of the models was augmented with assumptions of variability across trials in…