In a review of the challenges to progress in providing social research evidence that might usefully inform policy, Oakley (2004) argues strongly that the "paradigm divide" between qualitative and quantitative research communities continues to constitute a major problem. Oakley refers to a number of recent critiques of what is seen as "misplaced…

A study examining the performance of college freshmen trained in thinking skills and the relationship of this training to scores on an intelligence scale indicates that groups taught divergent thinking skills scored significantly higher in a comprehension subtest than did groups taught convergent thinking skills or the control group. (Author/CB)

Eighty preschoolers participated in a study of the usefulness of the lure-retrieval paradigm. Four treatment conditions were compared: In addition to play and training conditions, a questions condition and an alternative-materials control group were employed. Results prompted discussion of theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the…

Two experiments were conducted to examine behaviors that characterize play with convergent and divergent materials and the effects of play on convergent and divergent problem solving among 64 3- and 4-year-olds. (Author/RH)

Examines research which was performed in order to investigate, in the context of colleges of further education, the relationship between performance on divergent and convergent thinking tests and between performance on divergent thinking tests and academic attainment. (CT)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) was reauthorized by the U.S. Congress in 2004, yet ongoing regulatory efforts are required to determine its operationalization and implementation. Of particular concern to school psychologists and others involved in the educational process are the guidelines for identification of…

Individual differences in performance on figural analogy tests are usually attributed to quantitative differences in processing parameters rather than to qualitative differences in the formation and use of representations. Yet aptitude-related differences in categorizing standardized figural analogy problems between high and low scorers have been…

J. P. Guilford's "structure of the intellect" provides a system that explains the intellectual abilities of students and identifies major types of productive thinking. A study was conducted to examine whether one of these types--divergent production, which focuses on responses of an individual's own creations--could be enhanced through…

Although it is commonly assumed that increases in mathematical knowledge and problem-solving skill alter one's understanding of mathematical problems, little research exists to support this assumption. The present study investigated the relationship between mathematical background and problem perception in two experiments. Experiment 1 employed…

For 235 ninth-grade students, intercorrelations of Guilford's structure-of-intellect (SOI) tests and of three measures of critical thinking were factor analyzed. The study reveals the viability of using SOI constructs involving cognition and evaluation of semantic content as likely explanatory components of critical thinking. (Author/AL)

Intelligence is related to executive performance though different kinds of executive work seem to require differing intellectual abilities. To examine these different intellectual functions and their relationship to performance ratings, 208 male executives completed the School and College Ability Test (SCAT), the Abstract Reasoning Test, and three…

In a study of tests on diagnosis it was found that confidence measures of knowledge adjusted for reasoning were more reliable than conventional measures of knowledge, supporting the idea that knowledge enhances the ability to recognize the diagnostic entities, and realism is associated with fewer premature closures. (MSE)

Studies the personality traits of carefully defined groups of students in further education colleges and correlates these traits with academic success on unaggregated measures of attainment and with aspects of convergent and divergent thinking. (CT)

Performance on standardized figural analogy tests is considered highly predictive of academic success. While information-processing models of analogy solution attribute performance differences to quantitative differences in processing parameters, the problem-solving literature suggests that qualitative differences in problem representation and…

A progress report of work done in formulating a theory of deductive reasoning is given. Models for the three main kinds of syllogisms that have been investigated by students of human reasoning (categorical, conditional, and linear) have been formulated and tested. The theory and data for each of the three kinds of syllogisms is summarized. Some…