This paper presents best practices for conducting survey research using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Readers will learn the benefits, limitations, and trade-offs of using MTurk as compared to other recruitment services, including SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics. A synthesis of survey design guidelines along with a sample survey are presented to help…

Study abroad programs have proven beneficial for both the international student as well as the domestic community and school population interacting with the student. In an effort to promote cultural awareness, intercultural communications as well as opportunities for future study abroad program success, universities must take care to provide…

This paper is meant to highlight the occurrence of Simpson's Paradox when using aggregated data obtained from two IEA studies in Israel, while ignoring the effect of a powerful intervening variable in the local context--the ethnicity factor. It will demonstrate faulty conclusions regarding either the absence of relationships between a contextual…

Mobile devices have been increasingly utilized in informal learning because of their high degree of portability; mobile guide systems (or electronic guidebooks) have also been adopted in museum learning, including those that combine learning strategies and the general audio-visual guide systems. To gain a deeper understanding of the features and…

There has been increased interest in family systems approaches to the treatment of children's behavior problems. A study was conducted to compare children's behavior patterns in clinical and nonclinical intact families and to explore the relationship between family functioning and boys' behavior patterns. Subjects consisted of 16 clinic families…

The psychometric characteristics of 12 adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and a group without PWS but with other similar traits were compared. Results found cognitive, behavioral and educational traits often associated with PWS to be present in both groups, illustrating the importance of control/comparison groups in research establishing…

Differences in children's interpersonal perceptions and in their conceptions of behavior disorders in hypothetical peers were investigated in a sample of 34 boys between the ages of 10 and 13. Two groups of subjects were formed: 17 subjects attended special classes for the emotionally handicapped and were classified as exhibiting conduct problems…

This study found that accuracy in predicting the out-of-home placement of children with severe disabilities increased little in a large cross-sectional sample (n=5,992) over a smaller semilongitudinal sample (n=141). Factors such as age, adaptive and maladaptive behavior, and ethnicity are discussed. (Author/JDD)

Investigated were Australian and Papua New Guinean elementary school children's strategies and errors on arithmetic word problems. Reports that (1) the two samples showed similar strategies and similar errors and (2) the main variable determining difficulty was the semantic structure of the questions. (YP)

Research on assessing the cultural fairness of individual test items is reviewed, with emphasis on Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model. As defined in this review, differential item characteristics are exhibited when examinees from one group have a lower probability of answering correctly than do examinees of equal ability from another group.…

Presents model of algorithm design (activity in software development) based on analysis of protocols of two subjects designing three convex hull algorithms. Automation methods, methods for studying algorithm design, role of discovery in problem solving, and comparison of different designs of case study according to model are highlighted.…

Presents a sampling of commentary about epistemological function, about the diverse research processes that result from a particular philosophical position, and about technical implementation of various attempts to discover knowledge. Discussion of the qualitative versus quantitative research debate highlights ethnography, controlling for bias,…

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…

Using a basic vocabulary and simple model, this paper discusses four options available at the level of the individual bibliographic database for resolving conflicts in MARC exchange: addition, deletion, modification, and superimposition. Costs and benefits of each option and impacts on MARC exchange are noted. (Fourteen references are cited.) (EJS)

Temperament and attachment, as defined by Bowlby and his followers, are fundamentally different constructs, and research guided by the attachment perspective cannot meaningfully be assimilated to the temperament construct. Qualitative aspects of relationships simply cannot be reduced to individual behavioral dimensions. (RH)