Developed an empirical strategy for transforming ordinal counts and percentages to interval scale measures by recoding them as ordered categories and estimating Rasch model scale parameters. Demonstrated the strategy for a neighborhood construct defined by 8 characteristics of 77 Chicago, Illinois, neighborhoods. (SLD)

Examination of the coding of interview data in studies of the aspirations of British Muslim girls and transition to math teaching compared manual and electronic methods. Choice of methods depended on the size of the project, funds, time, and research expertise. (SK)

Questions asked by elementary students in response to narrative texts were coded by university and elementary teachers. The coding schedule was consistently applied. The community of inquiry approach helped develop students' critical analysis skills. Careful selection of texts was recommended for successful use of the approach. (Contains 23…

Provides critical analysis of Edwards (1992) presentation of a set of examples from the Child Language Data Exchange System as prototypes of bad transcription practice. The analysis argues that Edward's approach causes the development of an overly rigid set of principles that could stop progress in the analysis of spontaneous language samples.…

Describes a method for compressing tomographic images obtained using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) by applying transform compression using all available dimensions. This takes maximum advantage of redundancy of the data, allowing significant increases in compression efficiency and performance. (13 references) (KRN)

Discusses a flexible, high performance subband coding system. Residual vector quantization is discussed as a basis for coding subbands, and subband decomposition and bit allocation issues are covered. Experimental results showing the quality achievable at low bit rates are presented. (13 references) (KRN)

The study examined speech production abilities of 14 poor readers and 14 age-matched (second and third graders) nondisabled readers. Subjects were taught to produce four novel, multisyllabic nonsense words. Analysis indicated that encoding limitations rather than speech production limitations were primarily responsible for disabled readers' longer…

Evaluates and criticizes Goldsmith's book, "Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology." The analysis addresses several areas that are viewed as flaws in Goldsmith's synthesis both in the textbook and with the definition and use of the autosegmental notation. (32 references) (GLR)

Trial-by-trial strategy assessments and a microgenetic design were used to examine the learning of rules for solving balance scale problems by 70 4- and 70 5-year olds. Developmental differences in learning that emerged seemed to reflect both distal and proximal influences. Encoding and initial rule use were related to different learning process…

Discussion of electronic discussion groups as an instructional technique addresses the dilemma of whether instructors should associate assessment schemes with the electronic discussion forum. Presents a coding technique as an example of how assessment can potentially promote substantive electronic discussions. (Author/LRW)

Counselors conducting survey research have many item format options to contemplate. This study examined midpoint selection and the effect on reliability of including or excluding midpoint options, and using both positively and negatively worded items. Findings indicate that reliability can be affected by both midpoint options and reverse coding.…

Computer science students need to learn how to write high-quality software. An important methodology for achieving quality is design-by-contract, in which code is developed together with its specification, which is given as class invariants and method pre- and postconditions. This paper describes practical experience in teaching design-by-contract…

Dividing attention across multiple words occasionally results in misidentifications whereby letters apparently migrate between words. Previous studies have found that letter migrations preserve within-word letter position, which has been interpreted as support for position-specific letter coding. To investigate this issue, the authors used word…

This article discusses three different online services providing federated access to finding aids relating to archives found in a number of repositories: the Archives Hub, Access to Archives (A2A) and Navigational Aids for the History of Science, Technology and the Environment (NAHSTE). While the scale of the services is very different, a…

This article presents comments on the article by D. Westen and J. Weinberger, which explored the benefits and limitations of clinical observation and judgment. Westen and Weinberger identify two categories of informants--clinicians and participants--but these categories could be expanded to include other observers who might have particular…