Bridging the areas of political-economic sociology, the sociology of agriculture and environmental sociology, this study tests two hypotheses derived from a refined theory of foreign investment dependence. The hypotheses state that pesticide and fertilizer use intensity in less-developed countries are both positively associated with foreign…

The application of scientific tools to analyse the use of Internet-based e-learning tools in academic settings is in general an ignored area. E-learning tools are actually an emergent topic as a result of the new ideas introduced by the European Higher Education Area. Lifelong learning, or the promotion of student initiative, is the new paradigm…

Background: There is uncertainty about the extent to which mildly sub-optimal perinatal characteristics among individuals born near-term (greater than 33 weeks of gestation) are associated with various subsequent childhood problems, including antisocial behavior. There is even more uncertainty about whether the pathway to antisocial behavior…

This paper summarizes research conducted on three computer based video models' effectiveness for learning based on memory and comprehension. In this quantitative study, a two-minute video presentation was created and played back in three different types of media players, for a sample of eighty-seven college freshman. The three players evaluated…

Self-concept and adjustment are two important psychological aspects influencing the personalities of individuals. The term self-concept refers to the individual's perception or view of himself. It refers to those perceptions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and values which the individual's perception of his abilities and his status and roles in the…

The present study investigated the pathways between attention problems and depressive symptoms, particularly the role of academic incompetence, among a community sample of urban African American children. Results supported the hypothesized path models from inattention to depressive symptoms for girls and boys. Academic performance in the spring of…

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate that students' self-evaluations contribute to improving academic results and life skills. Design/methodology/approach: Taking as reference a group of previously validated scales (part 1: measurement), a causal model is developed. Hypotheses are tested through the structural equations methodology by using the…

This study is an investigation of stress and coping among African American students at a predominantly White college/university (PWCU) and a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and their relationship to academic performance. Participants were 203 African American students (101 from a mid-size predominantly White midwestern state…

The present study examines the mediating effects of student intrinsic motivation and teacher ratings of student academic engagement on the relation between school climate perceptions and student academic performance among 282 urban African American middle school students. Results provided support for the hypothesized model and suggest the…

This paper reports an investigation that was done ex post facto, examining the hypothesis that within economics courses defined economics students achieved better results than did law students in the same courses. This should not be the case if the courses are truly multifunctional. Information on an economics and money course and a course on the…

This brief paper summarizes a roundtable discussion on the relative lack of use by special education researchers of a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Discussion addressed: (1) the types of knowledge that could be generated by using a wider range of research methods (e.g., structural equation modeling and associated methods…

This book is intended for a one-semester or one-term course in educational research. It is designed to enable students to become intelligent consumers of educational research and to introduce its basic principles to those who eventually may be involved in research in their work. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction to Research in Education"; (2)…

A detailed investigation of the statistical procedure of W. Stout (the computer program DIMTEST) for testing the hypothesis that an essentially unidimensional latent trait model fits observed binary response data from a psychological test is presented. One finding is that DIMTEST may fail to perform as desired in the presence of guessing when…

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the animation of visual information when used in conjunction with text and static visuals in microcomputer-based instruction. Of particular interest were consequent performance on higher level learning tasks as a result of viewing these forms of visual presentation, and those levels of…

Science teachers tend to focus on schemas rather than underlying structures with greater explanatory power. One such structure is the recognition that the logical statement implication can only be falsified. After instruction with a modified version of the four-card hypothesis testing task, a grup of 48 preservice elementary teachers were…