This chapter reviews the literature on survey fatigue and summarizes a research project that indicates that administering multiple surveys in one academic year can significantly suppress response rates in later surveys. (Contains 4 tables.)

Higher education scholars and institutional researchers rely heavily on self-reported survey data in their work. This chapter explores problems associated with self-reports and provides questions and recommendations for their use.

This article written by Peter Lloyd Bennett, educational psychologist, and Carole Dyehouse, headteacher, provides a personal account of how one primary school responded to the death of a pupil. The authors describe the process by which bereavement within the school community became a valued learning opportunity within the school curriculum.…

This study examined relations among cortisol reactivity and measures of cognitive function and social behavior in 4- to 5-year-old children (N=169) attending Head Start. Saliva samples for the assay of cortisol were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of an approximately 45-min testing session. Moderate increase in cortisol followed by…

In a 3-wave longitudinal study (with assessments 2 years apart) involving 186 early adolescents (M ages of approximately 9.3, 11.4, and 13.4), the hypothesis that parental warmth/positive expressivity predicts children's effortful control (EC) (a temperamental characteristic contributing to emotion regulation) 2 years later, which in turn predicts…

Ability estimates yielded by the one- (1PL), two- (2PL), and three-parameter (3PL) models and the nominal response model (NRM) were compared with the number-right (NR) scoring model using items not susceptible to test-wiseness (NTW) and items susceptible to the ID1 test-wiseness strategy. These items were contained in grade 12 diploma examinations…

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether playing a specific ball sport, such as tennis, could maintain the coincidence-timing (CT) performance of older adults at a similar level to that of younger ones. To address this question, tennis players and nonplayers of three different age ranges (ages 20-30, 60-70, and 70-80 years)…

The concept and measurement of psychopathy in young people is discussed with respect to five key issues: (1) the respective merits of self-reports and ratings by others; (2) whether callous/unemotional (CU) features may be more appropriately tapped by physiological measures; (3) the possible utility of genetic studies; (4) the distinctiveness of…

The purpose of the study reported in this article is to empirically examine passage-related local item dependence (LID) by using an IRT (item response theory) based LID index called Q3 in an EFL reading comprehension test, with a special focus on item types as a potentially competing source of LID with passages. In this article, definitions and…

This study compares the ability of the multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) confirmatory factor analysis model to correctly identify cases of differential item functioning (DIF) with more established methods. Although the MIMIC model might have application in identifying DIF for multiple grouping variables, there has been little…

The problem of dimensionality with respect to Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) specifically and, more generally, "g" or fluid intelligence, has been a long-standing issue. The present article reports two studies examining the dimensionality of both the original Set II of the APM (n = 506) and a short form (n = 644), using principal…

The effects of a widely used expressive writing intervention on adolescents' somatic symptoms, distress, and positive psychological functioning were evaluated. Eighth-grade (n = 106) students were randomly assigned to write about either an emotional or a neutral topic for 3 consecutive days. Students completed measures of somatic symptoms, medical…

Guided reading lessons are a powerful context for beginning reading instruction, particularly for children who struggle with initial literacy learning. Providing immediate responses to students' oral reading of partially familiar texts requires teachers to make complex and highly skilled decisions. This decision process is based on knowledge of…

It is impossible to teach well or conduct good research without some personal sense of involvement. Without attending to these apparently extraneous emotional aspects our work is impoverished. At the same time it is the needs of indigenous peoples as subjects in research and teaching which are paramount. The author touches on the relevance of…

This research examined the effects of three factors (friendship, gender, and topic of teasing) on adolescents' predicted emotional reactions to hypothetical teasing episodes regarding appearance and academic competence. The 8th graders (n = 131) in Study 1 made predictions regarding the negative emotions and humor experienced when teasing occurred…