Educational researchers have claimed that the quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational inquiry are, indeed, compatible. However, it would be unfortunate to discontinue this debate. The quantitative-qualitative debate began with the interpretive approach to social inquiry. Dilthey argued that since cultural/moral sciences differ from…

Because health behavior is often concerned with dynamic constructs, a longitudinal approach to measurement is needed. The Longitudinal Guttman Simplex (LGS) is a measurement model developed especially for dynamic constructs exhibiting cumulative, unitary development measured longitudinally. Data from the Television Smoking Prevention Project, a…

The In-Training Evaluation Report (ITER), in use by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for examining the competencies of candidates eligible for the certifying examination, was tested for validity and reliability. This analysis suggests revisions but declares the ITEA a useful instrument to aid in candidate assessment. (JT)

Measures of physical, mental, and social components of health status and general health ratings were studied for children ages 0-4 (N=679) and 5-13 (N=1473). Questionnaires were completed by adult proxies (usually mothers) in three generally healthy populations. Hypothesized multi-item scales were tested; reliability was estimated and preliminary…

Stressing that it is necessary to have information about the quality of eye movement data in order to judge the degree of confidence one should have in the results of an experiment using eye movement records as data, this report suggests ways for assessing and reporting such information. Specifically, the report deals with three areas: (1)…

This study was undertaken to test the authenticity of an earlier study by Olmsted, Blackington, and Houston which devised a way of categorizing teachers according to their responses on a number of scales having to do with their attitudes about the profession. The previous study used 60 preservice teacher interns, mostly female, from Michigan State…

Two general methods of associate (peer) evaluations--the rating procedure and the nomination procedure--are most often used. While both techniques produce similar results, the variation in procedure used to obtain the data has limited most direct comparisons. Because of this, the differences between the several methods of making the evaluations…

This paper reports the development of a classroom observation instrument designed to broaden and extend the power of existing tools to provide a balanced, reciprocal perspective of both verbal and nonverbal communication. An introductory section discusses developments in communication analysis. The Miniaturized Total Interaction Analysis System…

This investigation sought to develop and apply analysis of variance techniques to the estimation of the reliability of observation schedules. It placed special emphasis on the different possible designs and the various administrative situations in which they might be applied. The application of the general model to a specific instance was then…

This report discusses the practical problems encountered in a longitudinal study now in its fourth year, where the focus has been the early identification of later learning disorders. The general goal was the identification of tests with the characteristics of high reliability, low cost, short time to administer, low demand on scoring…

Three substudies of effects of different formats on student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness were conducted. One substudy investigated Kinds of Keys, Agreement, Evaluation, and Needs Improvement. The second, NO TUP, (New Observation of Teaching of University Professor Rating Scale), investigated numbers of positive rating categories. The…

Most successful vocational education programs are identified in 16 community colleges through the use of the Delphi method. The design provided for a reliability check on the Delphi technique through the use of two independent Delphi panels on each campus. Hard data on 36 "most successful" and 36 "other" programs on 12 campuses…

The investigation attempted to establish the factorial validity and reliability of an industrial selection device based on Herzberg's theory of work motivation related to the school organization. The questionnaire was reworded to reflect an educational work situation; and a random sample of 197 students, 118 administrators, and 432 teachers was…

Results suggest that different groups of judges do set similar examination standards when using the same procedure, and that the average of individual judgments does not differ significantly from group consensus judgments. Significant differences were found, however, between the standards set by the two procedures employed. (RC)