This essay presents a critical commentary on McCroskey et al.'s (2004) general model of instructional communication. In particular, five points are examined which make explicit and problematize the meta-theoretical assumptions of the model. Comments call attention to the limitations of the model and argue for a broader approach to…

The purpose of this essay is to draw out key insights from Dewey's important text "Logic: The Theory of Inquiry" to provide theoretical and practical support for the emergent field of teacher research. The specific focal point is the argument in Cochran-Smith and Lytle's "Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge" on the significance of…

Elwin, Juslin, Olsson, and Enkvist (2007) and Henriksson, Elwin, and Juslin (2010) offered the constructivist coding hypothesis to describe how people code the outcomes of their decisions when availability of feedback is conditional on the decision. They provided empirical evidence only for the 0.5 base rate condition. This commentary argues that…

Comments on Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations by Confer et al. We applaud Confer et al.'s (February-March 2010) clarifications of the many misconceptions surrounding the use of evolutionary analyses in psychology. As they noted, such misunderstandings are common and result in a curious tendency of some…

IQ test scores have risen steadily across the industrialized world ever since such tests were first widely administered, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. Although the effect was documented more than 2 decades ago, there is currently no generally agreed-on explanation for it. The author argues that the phenomenon heterosis represents the…

Kahneman and Tversky's critique of Cohen's position on adults' probability reasoning is not valid. If they think Baconian logic is normatively unsound, the onus is on them to explain why. It is valid and useful because nature itself is full of causal processes. (Author/RD)

Responds that hypothesis testing is not a formula for judging debates but an attempt to model the nature of argumentation itself. Addresses criticisms of hypothesis testing and the role of paradigms in argumentation theory and practice. (PD)

Concludes that (1) the artificially high standards of hypothesis testing cannot be met by advocates who try to apply the paradigm in debate and (2) the values claimed for hypothesis testing can be achieved in other ways. (PD)

Argues that hypothesis testing is an inadequate paradigm for evaluating academic debates because (1) defenders of hypothesis testing cannot meet the standards they impose on other arguers and (2) hypothesis testing does not achieve its goal of discovering probable truth. (PD)

Piaget's last two works may add a new level of coherence and generality to his theories, which are grounded in an insight about the interdependence of reality and knowledge about reality. Piaget expanded Kant's epistemology to encompass three systems operating in the frames of biology, psychology, and culture. (MDM)

This paper assesses the relative merits of numerical and textual approaches to the study of international events. While enjoying a much longer history, numerical approaches have certain representational drawbacks that do not apply to textual approaches. Textual models provide a more adequate descriptive foundation for the study of international…

This article explores the potential of Bayesian inference as a theoretical framework for describing how people evaluate hypotheses. First, it identifies a set of logically possible forms of non-Bayesian behavior. Second, it reviews existing research in a variety of areas to see whether these possibilities are ever realized. (Author/BW)

Reexamines two recent papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly" (1977, EJ 167 789; 1978, EJ 188 620) by James C. March and James G. March on a study involving Wisconsin school superintendents. (Author/MLF)

The concepts of metaphor, model, and theory are defined and used to show how social science research in general, and education research in particular, has differed from Popper's description of natural science research. (IAH)

Responds to critique by Dometrius and Sigelman of Becker and Williams' model of ideal or random flow of people from preselection pool of applicants to postselection work force. Shows that critics' two claims are wrong, because they did not use relative measures of female representation in work force, and they base their modification of his model…