Notes that the paper by Williams et al (Social Forces, 55(2), 1976) establishes the reliability of Stouffer's tolerance scale in 1954 and 1973, but that it seriously distorts rather than illuminates understanding of political tolerance. (Author/AM)

Refutes the criticisms made by Harry Crockett (Social Forces 55(2), 1976) and conclude that there is no evidence in his criticisms that the interpretations of the origins of tolerance previously expressed are wrong. (AM)

Poverty rates are highest in the most urban and most rural areas of the United States, and are higher in nonmetropolitan than metropolitan areas. Yet, perhaps because only one-fifth of the nation's 35 million poor people live in nonmetropolitan areas, rural poverty has received less attention than urban poverty from both policymakers and…

The authors of this article contend that the Guinan and Foulds study was inadequately designed and executed, and the results indicate little of the "usefulness" of the test, much less illuminate the important hypothesis central to the investigation. Specific suggestions for further research in marathon group evaluation are made. (Author)

Explores the methodology and objectives of the National Assessment of Education project and draws implications from their findings in relation to writing skills. (RB)

The recommendation to use group means when there may be nonindependence among observational units is unduly restrictive. When random factors are properly identified and included in the analysis, the results are identical in balanced analysis of variance designs, irrespective of whether group means or individual observations are employed.…

A meta-analysis of outcomes from 32 studies investigating pretest effects was conducted. For all outcomes the average effect size was +.22, indicating an elevating effect of pretest on posttest. Duration of time between pre- and posttesting was also related to effect size. Researchers should continue to include pretest as a design variable.…

Contains seven articles discussing the application of meta-analysis to research on outcomes in psychotherapy. Provides a framework for understanding meta-analytic procedures and outlines major techniques. Reviews criticisms of integration of psychotherapy outcome research. Evaluates comparative therapy outcome research and discusses limitations of…

Calls attention to limitations and dangers in routine application of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), describes some alternative procedures, and laments the necessarily pervasive character of the statistical problem. (Author)

Investigated the relation between the understanding of desires for change and marital satisfaction. Subjects consisted of two samples, 77 married couples and 75 cohabiting and married couples. In both samples, the discrepancy index indicated that understanding was significantly positively correlated with marital satisfaction. (Author)

A recent recommendation by Holt (EJ 200 576) that coefficients resulting from estimating log-linear and similar models should not be interpreted is argued to be based on lack of clarity about the substantive and theoretical importance of the choice between dummy and effect coding for categorical variables. (Author/GDC)

The importance of reporting explained variance in ANOVA designs is discussed. Three methods that can be used to obtain estimates of explained variance in ANOVA designs are described and applied to sixteen studies that were reported in recent NARST volumes. Recommends that researchers in science education report explained variance. (Author/DS)