Describes study that investigated the effects of progressive phases of computer literacy on undergraduate students' attitudes, values, and opinions toward information technology (IT) and its applications. The Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) model is explained, and the implications of the findings of this study for changing negative attitudes…

Describes a game used in a graduate course dealing with interviewing skills. When following game rules, students are required to generate hypotheses and to engage in decision making techniques. Indicates student reaction to this exercise is positive. Notes that the activity brings about disinhibition in students while providing them with pertinent…

Thirty-five studies on the efficacy of special class versus regular class placement for mildly handicapped students were reviewed for the power of their statistical tests. Twenty-one studies had adequate power to detect a large effect size but the power to detect a medium effect size was no better than chance. (Author/DB)

Investigates the processes involved in the learning of Arabic subject-verb agreement by Australians. It is hypothesized that the amount and direction of information encoding motivated by certain semantic categories as well as the availability of discourse cues would influence the learners' performance in subject-verb agreement tasks. (27…

Presents a model that suggests the cognitive style and personality traits that are likely to affect programming stages and empirically investigates 1 portion of that model with 192 college students. Correlations between results from the Group Embedded Figures Test and design and coding tasks are discussed. (LRW)

Comments on the ideas espoused by Smedslund (PS 522 552) in this issue. Agrees to the idea of spending more intellectual energy in distinguishing between a priori and empirical hypotheses but emphasizes that concepts are not always accurate reflections of reality and that even empirical disconfirmation of an a priori hypothesis sometimes can…

The use of statistical methods to combine the results of independent empirical research studies (metanalysis) has a long history, with work mainly divided into tests of the statistical significance of combined results and methods for combining estimates across studies. Methods of metanalysis and their applications are reviewed. (SLD)

Using S. J. Messick's theoretical work concerning construct validity as a guide, underlying hypotheses for investigation when validating placement test decisions are assessed. Guidelines on validating placement decisions are offered, and the hypotheses and guidelines are applied in a validation study of the Written English Expression Placement…

Discusses semantic communication networks, methods of content analysis, and voice mail as a communication system. A study that examined conceptual distinctions between voice mail answering and voice mail messaging in a large insurance organization is described, and semantic network analysis is compared to traditional content analysis. (28…

This article argues that issues in gifted education can be usefully categorized under three headings: definitions, ideologies, and hypotheses. Seven central issues are thus classified, including the gifted label; types of giftedness; individual versus societal perspectives on giftedness; giftedness in different ethnocultural backgrounds; origins…

Describes a study of undergraduates that was conducted to define what instructors should be doing while a student is engaged in computer-based training (CBT) and to examine the effect of student-instructor interaction in CBT. Results are reported that indicate that increased interaction produces increased achievement. (11 references) (LRW)

Describes two classroom experiments that investigated the effects of using projected-display computers: the first compared teaching a course using a projected display with teaching the course in a computer lab; and the second compared using a computer and projected display with standard lectures. Effects on test scores are discussed. (three…

Describes a study conducted at Iowa State University that investigated the effects of using guided programing instruction to train analogical reasoning. Two groups of students are compared who received different types of programing instruction, and the far transfer and the near transfer of instruction are explored. (35 references) (LRW)

A study examined the content of papers presented at the second, third, and fourth national conferences of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Analyses of the papers presented at the first national conference revealed that one-third of them were research reports, whereas proceedings from subsequent meetings contained fewer…

Describes an activity appropriate for college or high school students where they make hypotheses about prearranged patterns in a deck of playing cards. (PR)