Researchers increasingly recognize that significance tests are limited in their ability to inform scientific practice. Common errors in interpreting significance tests and three strategies for augmenting the interpretation of significance test results are illustrated. The first strategy for augmenting the interpretation of significance tests…

This paper examines facts and faults of some of the relevant research concerning abortion and its psychological effects. The paper notes that because of research design flaws, conclusions are tentative at best. However, it is concluded that research suggests or indicates: (1) women primarily experience relief and few negative psychological…

Although there have been frequent calls for over-time research in mass communication, there are still many reasons that researchers use simpler designs. Each approach: two-time point, panel/repeated measures, and time-series experimental designs, offers its own advantages and disadvantages. By examining the benefits and disadvantages of each…

This paper examines some of the problems that arise when conducting multivariate analyses with incomplete data. The literature on the effectiveness of several missing data procedures (MDP) is summarized. The most widely used MDPs are: (1) listwise deletion; (2) pairwise deletion; (3) variable mean; (4) correlational methods. No MDP should be used…

The present paper reviews the techniques commonly used to correct an observed correlation coefficient for the simultaneous influence of attenuation and range restriction effects. It is noted that the procedure which is currently in use may be somewhat biased because it treats range restriction and attenuation as independent restrictive influences.…

There are four problems in modern composition bibliography that result directly from the continuing research paradigm instability in the field. The first problem is that of definition. Composition is a hybrid, practical sort of field, with very ill-defined and shifting boundaries. The recent extension of composition from "formal writing…

Ethnographers find themselves among a family of researchers referred to as naturalists. This rather diverse family conducts research described by turns as qualitative, participant observational, case study, symbolic interactionist, phenomenological, constructivist, and interpretive. The focus of the ethnographer's inquiry is on the mundane,…

Research has inadequately examined why health has become a problem in the day care setting. Health regulations for day care have not been researched in the day care setting per se but have been imposed on day care by the medical community working from a hospital model. Day care research has presumed that having antecedent health regulations in…

Kaplan (1964) describes the now classic distinction between "logic-in-use," the more or less logical cognitive style and procedures used by the educational scientist, and "reconstructed logic," the scientist's after-the-fact, explicit formulation and idealization of the logic and procedures. However, most technical documents…

The present status of the Elementary and Secondary School Desegregation Study, funded by the United States Commission on Civil Rights and currently underway, was evaluated. The study is designed to investigate the relationship between type and extent of desegre- gation activity and the resultant level of desegregation in the schools. This study is…

This memo reports on the results of an investigation into the Commission on Civil Rights' 1984 School Desegregation Study based on an examination of the pertinent documents involved in the study, for which Unicon Research Corporation took over the contract in July, 1985. Gary Orfield, member of the project's advisory group, had charged that the…

Individual marital therapy (IMT) is therapy in which one or both spouses are treated separately by different therapists who do not communicate with each other about treatment. Gurman and Kniskern (1978) reported an improvement rate of 48% and a deterioration rate of 11.6% for nonbehavioral IMT. These outcome data and the conclusions drawn from…

This report provides an overview of methods of evaluating the impact of family planning programs in developing countries, with a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses. The focus is on estimation of program impact on fertility rates, though other potential outcome measures, such as maternal and child health, are also discussed. The first…

The use of messages as experimental stimuli brings with it problems regarding the interpretability and generalizability of findings. Some psychologists and communication researchers have argued that message stimuli must be treated as random effects. A review of the literature examined data regarding experimental designs used in recent…

Dropout classification systems must be standardized, updated, and simplified to accurately reflect conditions of student departures from school; current, nonstandardized systems allow gathered data to be biased and of poor quality. Improvements will inform administrators of the specific causes behind students' early withdrawals--whether students…