Reviews some findings obtained through comparisons of dyslexic readers with nondyslexic readers matched by chronological or reading age. Notes some of the problems and pitfalls associated with this approach. Explores the potential of other group comparisons when examining sources of reading difficulty, and discusses individual differences within…

A research psychologist and education consultant offers school board members some principles for appraising statistics: (1) distinguish between rates and numbers; (2) distinguish between ranks and scores; (3) try to "look through" the pictorial representation of data; (4) double check the data for accuracy; and (5) consider the source of the data.…

Responds to J. P. Rushton's contention that blacks are small-brained, oversexed criminals who multiply at a fast rate and are afflicted with mental disease. The author shows Rushton's views have virtually no scientific basis and were arrived at through unscientific methodology and literature based on racist prejudice. (GR)

Examines some problems and difficulties encountered in international comparative research programs in mass communications: comparability of units of analysis; lack of consensus manifested in dichotomization into "conventional" and "critical" approaches; and suitability of exported models, theories, concepts, and methods to Third World conditions.…

Investigates whether different measurements can significantly influence the outcome of a study. Examines whether voters learn more from political advertisements than from television news, using exposure and attention to measure television watching, confidence and accuracy to measure knowledge, and different control strategies. Finds that different…

This comparative study of two pre-service teacher education programmes in England and in Canada focuses on the relationship between inquiry and the partnership structures within which the universities and schools work together. Despite the very different jurisdictions and cultures of the two systems, the two universities seem to experience similar…

Statistics used to estimate the population correlation ratio were reviewed and evaluated. The sampling distributions of Kelly's and Hays' statistics were studied empirically by computer simulation within the context of a three level one-way fixed effects analysis of variance design. (Author/RC)

Two order theoretic techniques were presented and compared. Ordering theory of Krus and Bart (1974) and an extended Takeya's item relational structure analysis (IRS) by Tatsuoka and Tatsuoka (1981) were used to extract the hierarchical item structure from three datasets. Directed graphs were constructed and both methods were assessed as to how…

Six major problems confronting attempts to use nonmetric multidimensional scaling to represent structures underlying similarity data are identified and the author's prospects for over-coming each of these problems are presented. (RC)

This review of studies comparing early childhood education models focuses on the trends and problems of this kind of research. The 8 "qualitative" studies reviewed, all pertain to aspects of instructional theory centering around teacher-child interaction. In the 19 empirical studies discussed, a dichotomy between "structured and unstructured…

Criteria for suitable research designs for use with large databases are suggested and analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages of several types of quasi-experimental designs are compared. Examples are taken from the authors' research with data from the Manitoba Health Services Commission. (Author/AL)

Investigated family behavior when a child is epileptic by comparing families with an epileptic child to control families without one. (Author/DB)