Compares approaches to modeling ordinal outcome variables, including assumptions, interpretations, and limitations. Explores how the multiple regression approach with ordinal level data can compromise the understanding of the effects of the independent variables and of the ordinal level response. Provides applications with data from a multisite…

This special series focused on treatment integrity in the child mental health and education field is timely. The articles do a laudable job of reviewing (a) the current status of treatment integrity research and measurement, (b) existing conceptual models of treatment integrity, and (c) the limitations of prior research. Overall, this thoughtful…

In 1896, Sigmund Freud stated that early childhood seduction caused hysteria in his female patients. He later recanted his original finding and claimed that the reports of abuse he heard from his patients were not descriptions of real events, but his patients' expressions of unconscious childhood wishes. The theory of the Oedipal complex gave…

Adopting the position, expressed by A. P. Bochner in his critique of small group communication research, that placing measurement in a secondary role increases the danger of accepting the claims of experiments with excessive error, this paper examines nine current quantitative small-group communication studies. Using a schema developed by J. F.…

A conceptualization of generalization and its place in educational research is proposed. Problems with existing approaches to generalization include limited concepts, misleading or simplistic results, perception variance or change, and the discouragement of sensitivity due to convenience. Researchers should distinguish between conclusions which…

Discusses principles of human development which are durable across changes in time, culture, and cohort. Analyzes the form these principles are likely to take, the limitations and strengths they are likely to display, and the process by which they are likely to be discovered. (Author/JMB)

Notes that problems of measurement in educational research are often addressed by using the terms validity and reliability. Discusses the meaning given to these terms and how they relate to the aims of the measurement process in educational research. (RKM)

Challenges the typical treatment of causal effects in longitudinal data, arguing that models should be conceptualized and tested in ways that directly reflect prior assumptions as to the trait- or state-like nature of the variables. Examples demonstrate that meaningful longitudinal studies of state variables can be conducted without assuming their…

Comments on an article by Kotelchuck and colleagues concerning the benefits of WIC participation on pregnancy outcomes. Raises methodological considerations, especially the effects of duration of WIC participation and benefits, and the problem of matching study subjects with controls. (GC)

In most selection validation research, only the upper and lower tails of the criterion distribution are used, often yielding misleading or incorrect results. Provides formulas and tables which enable the researcher to account more accurately for the distribution of criterion within the middle range of population. (Author/RW)

Discusses articles by Richard Rystrom in the Winter and Spring 1970 issues of the Journal of Reading Behavior. Questions the validation procedures and statistical evidence behind the author's model of reading comprehension. Tables and bibliography. (RW)

It is generally believed that the correction formula will yield exact correlational values only when the regression of z on x is both linear and homoscedastic. The formula is shown to hold for nonlinear heteroscedastic relationships. A simple sufficient condition for formula validity and estimation predictions is demonstrated in a numerical…

Discusses the generalizability of educational research and uses the area of main idea comprehension to illustrate how a line of research can be overgeneralized and lead to unfounded conclusions and pedagogical implications. (FL)

Describes a study of reliability among coders of information for meta-analysis (a quantitative procedure for synthesizing data in primary research reports) of research on life satisfaction in American adults. Identifies sources and areas of disagreement among coders and discusses measures that can be used to enhance intercoder consistency.…

In a secondary analysis of the Abrams and Siegel evaluation of the Transcendental Meditation program at Folsom prison, experimental groups fared better than control groups, although the treatment explains only a small proportion of the variance. (Author)