Examines how particular characteristics of two companies' press releases, generated during a hostile takeover attempt, influenced the media's news decisions. Finds that press releases from Prime Computer were associated with newspaper articles that were longer, more favorable to its point of view, and contained the same lead message points as…

Examines the use of religious and sexual imagery in rock music videos to determine their frequency of occurrence and occurrence in combination. Content analysis of 160 videos shows that religious imagery is present in a significant and nonrandom fashion and that it is more likely to occur with sexual imagery than without it. (SLD)

Discusses portrayals of animals in children's realistic animal fiction over the course of the 20th century. Shows how the definition of animal hero generally changed from wild animals that were heroic for surviving against all odds to domesticated animals that were heroic for rescuing humans from wild beasts. Discusses animals as victims. (SR)

Indicates reporters used more successful question types, asked questions more concisely, were equally if not more likely to jeopardize question clarity, and were more likely to ask more argumentative, accusatory, and leading questions than undecided voters. Finds that both groups did reasonably well addressing topics considered important in making…

Describes a study that was conducted to investigate and describe the way in which people organize documents in their offices. Results from the investigation of eight faculty members are discussed and analyzed, the process used to make classification decisions is described, and implications for conventional systems of classification are suggested.…

Explores the authority of experience, the role it plays, and the limits it sets in teaching for diversity. Questions whether teachers can teach what they have never experienced. Discusses Nella Larsen's novel "Passing," with emphasis on the confusion of racial and sexual relations, as a difficult situation similar to the classroom. (HB)

Investigates main idea instruction in three basal reading series. Finds statistically significant differences in main idea instruction for the parameters "main idea task" and "acknowledgement of strategies mediating main idea task." Determines that basal reader materials rarely encourage students to monitor their main idea…

Presents the results of a study which investigated the views of religion offered in 40 young adult books published between 1983 and 1987. The study focused on the role of, and attitudes toward, religion presented in the books. It was found that religion has a definite presence in these books. (42 references) (MAB)

Presents a classification system for developmental psychology that was constructed by means of a survey of articles published in the journals "Child Development" and "Developmental Psychology" in 1969 and 1987. The survey found that eight empirical questions encompassed the full range of empirical interests expressed by…

Reports on an exploratory study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) that was conducted to provide empirical evidence of the emergence of social norms in computer conferencing. Results of a content analysis of transcripts of BITNET conferences are described, and a case study of one conference is included. (11 references) (LRW)

Examines the 21 most commonly used novels in English classrooms in Quebec, Canada. Finds that 86 percent of the novels were written by men, 82 percent of the main characters were men, and that female characters were more submissive than men. Notes that a qualitative analysis demonstrates the same gender bias as the quantitative results. (RS)

Effects of the following three variables on rating scale response were studied: (1) polarization of opinion regarding scale content; (2) intensity of item wording; and (3) psychological width of the scale. Results with 167 college students suggest best ways to balance polarization and item wording regardless of scale width. (SLD)

Analyzes 106 randomly selected school restructuring proposals from 1,600 submitted to the RJR Nabisco Foundation's Next Century Schools Program. The majority of these proposals emphasized student/parent support and curriculum improvement. Most avoided breadth versus depth and substantive discussion/inquiry issues and left governance structures…

Survey responses from 166 (35%) administrative support personnel and interviews with 55 revealed that technology enriched and upgraded their jobs; it enabled them to use thinking skills; and their success derived from overcoming computer anxiety and using initiative, flexibility, and confidence in their ability to learn. (JOW)

Qualitative content analysis of 112 articles in adult education journals identified 5 dominant perspectives of women as adult learners; deficient; coping with new social roles; marginalized; and collaborative learners. Women as feminist is an emerging sixth perspective. (SK)