The hypothesis that male voices are more credible than female voices as narrators of instructional materials was tested with 64 randomly selected elementary school students, half of them male and half female. Students were to observe a point of light in a darkened room, and afterwards to draw a line showing how much their line moved. Four…

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning of "trust" as it applies to relationships between teachers and principals. First, 85 teachers were asked to explain the meaning of the statement, "I trust my principal"; a modified Q-sort of these data yielded 10 dimensions of trust. Then, 145 respondents were asked to indicate which of the 10…

The authors offer proposals for studies of human behavior in the courtroom, with respect to communications interaction among jurors and source credibility of attorneys. They refer to innovations in videotaping procedures, which make it possible to examine communications principles and dynamics in the courtroom situation. The first proposed study…

This study reports a portion of a series of investigations designed to determine to what extent credibility scales can be generalized. The investigation data was collected in six phases, representing six subject populations. All of the subjects were either college students or non-student adults. Subjects were asked to respond to one of four…

This paper attempts to lay a general framework for analyzing credibility gaps in evaluative information at various levels of organizational structure. The CIPP model is chosen as a point of reference in order to identify the type of evaluative information to which the concern of this paper is addressed. Credibility gaps are classified as personnel…

A significant problem of higher education today is public skepticism. If the educational leadership will stimulate political leaders to cope constructively with six central problems, the remaining years of the 1970's could be an "age of wisdom." The problems are: (1) the need for the assurance of greater resources in coming years; (2) the need for…

This research tests the hypothesis that trust is a prerequisite for the exchange of information about needs and priorities in negotiation. Bargainers who do not trust one another will fail to exchange information because they fear exploitation. Aspiration level and trust were manipulated in a simulated bargaining task. Bargainers induced to trust…

Wilford S. Bailey of Auburn University is heading the National Collegiate Athletic Association as it struggles to cope with several controversial issues: testing athletes for drug abuse, new academic standards for freshman athletes, the role of college presidents in governing sports, and the integrity of college athletics. (MLW)

A study examined the relationship between outdoor leader self-awareness and co-leaders' perceptions of leader influence. Thirty-three challenge course instructors for a major university in the Midwest operated as a peer group, working in instructor teams leading groups in an outdoor setting. Each instructor took a turn as leader of the day. All…

The Newspaper, Part 1 section of the Proceedings contains the following 10 papers: "Local News Coverage Strategies in a Three-Way Daily Newspaper Competitive Market" (Patsy G. Watkins); "Enterprise and Investigative Reporting at Ohio Metropolitan Newspapers in 1980 and in 1995" (Joseph Bernt and Marilyn Greenwald); "The…

Procedures of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education are criticized, based on the review of an innovative program run jointly by Washington University and Maryville College in Missouri. Teams evaluating the same program at the two schools approved Washington University's and disapproved Maryville's. (PP)

Rather than being merely a component of the generalized distrust of authority, decline in public satisfaction with the schools may be one of the leading contributors to sustaining or even exacerbating the crisis of confidence in the state. (Author/JM)

Case study confirms that a teacher's classroom communication behavior is affected by concerns about communication. Identified three types of teacher concerns about communication--self, task, impact--and then established a relationship between these concerns and patterns of behavior. (PD)

Describes the village announcers of various Nigerian communities and suggests that their role in the communication of rural change be recognized by the broadcast industry. The key to successful broadcasting in these areas is recognition of the essentially community-oriented nature of African countries. (JMF)