We propose a coefficient of agreement to assess the degree of concordance between two independent groups of raters classifying items on a nominal scale. This coefficient, defined on a population-based model, extends the classical Cohen's kappa coefficient for quantifying agreement between two raters. Weighted and intraclass versions of the…

Diverse types of intimate committed relationships, namely cohabiting same-sex and opposite-sex partnerships, are increasingly prevalent in the United States (Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Garber, 2005; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Given the rise in the number of individuals participating in intimate committed relationships outside of the marital context,…

This exploratory study examines the adult educational philosophies and teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia. A workforce educator is an educator teaching workforce skills; an entrepreneurship instructor is an educator who teaches entrepreneurship skills. Conti's Principles of Adult…

Vocational education and training (VET) concerns the cultivation and development of specific skills and competencies, in addition to broad underpinning knowledge relating to paid employment. VET assessment is, therefore, designed to determine the extent to which a trainee has effectively acquired the knowledge, skills, and competencies required by…

Recent test-based accountability policy in the U.S. has involved annually assessing all students in core subjects and holding schools accountable for adequate progress of all students by implementing sanctions when adequate progress is not met. Despite its potential benefits, basing educational policy on assessments developed for a student…

The three algorithms most frequently selected by behavior-analytic researchers to compute interobserver agreement with continuous recording were used to assess the accuracy of data recorded from video samples on handheld computers by 12 observers. Rate and duration of responding were recorded for three samples each. Data files were compared with…

We investigate experienced high school geometry teachers' perspectives on "authentic mathematics" and the much-criticized two-column proof form. A videotaped episode was shown to 26 teachers gathered in five focus groups. In the episode, a teacher allows a student doing a proof to assume a statement is true without immediately justifying it,…

Law enforcement requires the officer to invoke reason and critical thinking skills in order to solve intricate problems in real time, on the job. This study examined the course development of a large national organization (State Police Academies) to ascertain what strategies are being used in their courses to promote training for higher order,…

Family Life Education (FLE) websites can benefit from the field of user experience, which makes technology easy to use. A heuristic evaluation of five FLE sites was performed using Neilson's heuristics, guidelines for making sites user friendly. Greater site complexity resulted in more potential user problems. Sites most frequently had problems…

Despite increased recent attention to improving the quality of encounters between police officers and people with serious mental illness, there are no measures available for assessing how consumers perceive their interactions with police officers. Drawing upon conceptual frameworks developed within social psychology, this study reports the…

Walking is a popular and easily accessible form of physical activity. However, walking instruction for older adults is based on the evidence gathered from younger populations. This study evaluated walking conditions, strength, balance, and subjective health status after a 12-week walking-training program in community-dwelling adults greater than…

Most professors have mixed feelings about participating on peer-review panels. It's an honor. It helps the discipline. It's a waste of time. It's biased. Michele Lamont wanted to know whether it works: specifically, whether, and how, professors identify excellence. So the multi-titled Harvard University scholar--professor of European studies,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of adult music engagement from the perspectives of musically engaged adults not currently participating in activities that are direct extensions of the typical K-12 music curriculum. Three participants were purposefully chosen and include an avid listener, a church praise team member, and a…

This study examined the influence of rater training and scoring context on training time, scoring time, qualifying rate, quality of ratings, and rater perceptions. One hundred twenty raters participated in the study and experienced one of three training contexts: (a) online training in a distributed scoring context, (b) online training in a…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of cognitive curiosity through the development and validation of items that identify specific-epistemic, diversive-epistemic, specific-perceptual, and diversive-perceptual factors of curiosity. The instrument was based on existing research that identifies each of the four hypothesized…