Introduction: This article results from a qualitative case study focusing on the information seeking practices of environmental activists. The main attention was devoted to their perceptions of media credibility and cognitive authority in the context of seeking orienting information about environmental issues in particular. Method: The empirical…

New methods are needed to judge the quality of alternative student assessment, methods which complement the philosophy underlying authentic assessments. This paper examines assumptions underlying validity, reliability, and objectivity, and why they are not matched to authentic assessment, concentrating on the constructivist paradigm of E. Guba and…

Karaoke (singing along to music videos) has swept Taiwan with such force that many people go to singing schools to improve their singing. Three cases in this paper demonstrate how the ethos, or credibility, of the singer is a combination of initial and derived ethos. Who the singer is tends to determine how much attention he or she receives…

An attending tutor program designed to increase faculty-student contact within an Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship was evaluated. Sessions were observed, written documents were reviewed, and faculty and students were interviewed in order to determine if the program was meeting its goals. Based on the evaluation data, the program was…

A study examined the power of communication apprehension, person perception, network connectedness, and course satisfaction to predict learning outcomes in a college communication course. Subjects, 81 students from a multisection course, completed a variety of self-report instruments measuring their communication apprehension levels; perceptions…

Aware that children conceive of different types of trust, a study examined 60 children's conception of trust. The subjects comprised three age groups: 6-7 years old, 8-9 years old, and 10-11 years old. Each subject was interviewed on the basis of three stories. The stories depicted a hypothesized violation of trust in a moral context (lying),…

Focusing on issues concerning trust relationships within the nursing field, the papers in these proceedings consider relationships between nursing service and nursing education, staff or faculty and nursing administration, rural and urban nursing agencies, and among intercultural nursing groups. The proceedings contain: (1) "Trust: An Idealistic…

Data were collected from 734 respondents, employees of a large Midwestern utility organization, to a survey questionnaire which attempted to examine the employees' reactions to the company newspaper. Specifically, the study sought to compare group phenomena among readers with respect to their inclinations to read the newspaper and their…

The so-called "cultivation hypothesis" proposes that television content comprises an organic whole of interrelated themes and symbols not necessarily congruent with the real world. However, findings of a primary study have indicated that television news has enough baseline credibility to have a significant impact on fear of crime among citizens.…

Murstein's Stimulus-Value-Role theory of dyadic relationships, in which attraction depends on the exchange value of the assets and liabilities each person brings to the situation, is employed as a foundation for this review of the literature on interpersonal attraction in the counseling relationship. A three-stage model, accounting for both…

This dissertation examines the effects of a subordinate's trust in an immediate superior, desire for promotion, and perception of supervisory influence upon several qualitative aspects of communication, which include perceived accuracy of communication, directionality of communications, and overall satisfaction with communications. Trust in an…

This is a final report on a series of research studies conducted to determine the effects of videotaped testimony on information processing and decision making in jury trials. The report is divided into the following sections: descriptions of the research methodology and technological aspects of the videotaped stimuli; summaries of eleven studies…

University freshman journalism students from two different states were surveyed to study the influence of high school publication experience on journalism career aspirations, perceptions of media credibility, and use of media. About half the students surveyed had worked on high school publications. These former staffers were compared with the…

With the intent of spurring discussion and raising important issues about the topic of test standards, this circular serves primarily as a resource document for member organizations of the National Consortium on Testing (NCT). Additionally, it identifies the broad changes which have evolved since 1953 regarding ethical and technical standards for…

A variety of components that operate in tutoring writing are examined in this paper. Discussed are (1) the importance of the tutor's language, tone of voice, and verbal interaction with the students; (2) active listening techniques; (3) establishing an atmosphere of trust and acceptance; (4) helping students develop a framework for understanding…