The use of ability testing for job selection has become widespread in the Federal Government and in the U.S. Employment Service, which assists private sector employers. The justification for the practice is based largely on research findings claiming a high level of validity for such tests in predicting job performance. More recently, such claims…

Dissertations are the cumulative, tangible "best evidence" of interests of doctoral faculty and students in serious and incisive scholarship. Thus, dissertations are thoroughly studied by the program review teams periodically hired by boards of higher education in most states. The present paper explores seven errors in quantitative…

Problems associated with the use of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) data to make institutional comparisons are discussed. It is noted that information collected by HEGIS includes data on enrollment, degrees, finances, employees, libraries, and physical facilities. Attention is directed to the following problems with the…

A review of computer assisted instruction research and recent meta-analytical reports suggests that all research on the learning benefits of the instructional uses of computers should be halted until there is a plausible reason to expect that computers are instrumental in learning, since all existing evidence indicates that computers do not yield…

This paper highlights findings of school effectiveness research, identifies major criticisms connected with that research, and discusses implications for dissemination. An ample bibliography follows. Twelve characteristics are associated with quality schools, including high level of teacher expectation, frequent classroom visitation by principals,…

This paper presents and discusses a conceptual model for understanding, describing, and explaining personnel selection processes and activities. Four theoretical strands--decision theory, impression formation, inference theory, and rating theory--are briefly discussed and woven together as the basis for the proposed model. The model is then used…

A representative group of 14 recent surveys of employers' expressed needs was examined to consider the evidence they presented about the demands for worker education. The strongest trend in the results of these studies was the importance that employers placed on employee attitudes. A second theme was the emphasis on basic skills as opposed to…

The transmission of verbal information has typically been studied within the referential communication paradigm, which has tended to use restricted tasks and simple outcome measures. In this study, new insights into the nature of communication success and failure have been obtained by the use of an approach that allows meaning to be freely…

The desire to abolish the gap between research theory and classroom practice has sparked an increasing interest in field-based research among science educators. Although most researchers are aware of the standard meanings of informed consent and confidentiality, and there are some codes of ethical principles published by such groups as the…

To be maximally effective in solving problems, researchers must place their methodological and theoretical models of science within social and political contexts. They must become aware of biases and assumptions and move toward a more valid perception of social realities. Psychologists must view women in the situational context within which…

Societal changes have caused new directions for research on interest measurement. Specifically, the woman's movement of the early 1970s with the resultant awareness of sex inequities in the U.S. occupational distribution, has encouraged changes in gender-free occupational titles and equal endorsements by sex within scales of item pools and revised…

Practical guidelines are provided for the development of training programs for educational research workers. There are five chapters. Background, objectives, and organization of the seminar are discussed in the first chapter. The second chapter examines common directions, trends, and problems in the educational research of the Asian and Pacific…

This document presents a first approximation for a model for student performance in solving linear equations. First, characteristics of a model of student performance for solving linear equations is discussed. It is noted that there is a need for some theoretical structure to support and organize the bits and pieces of information provided by…

Difficulties associated with the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process of the British Columbia Ministry of Education were identified in this study. Using a task analysis of a hunter's job, a set of procedures was developed that can improve the curriculum development process and, to some extent, overcome the difficulties associated with it. The…

Four separate experiments were completed using the same stimulus materials but different groups of subjects to determine if orienting tasks created problems of control in incidental/intentional learning studies. Subjects were all Caucasians and heterogeneous in age (from 24 to 64 years), educational experiences, and career choices. Those in the…