What began with a few libraries' early application of ethnographic methods to learn more about user behaviors and needs has grown to become a significant body of work done across many institutions using a broad range of methods. User-centered investigations are increasingly influential in discussions about the shape and future of the research…

Distributive justice deals with the fairness of outcomes or rewards while procedural justice deals with the fairness of the rules and processes involved in the distribution of rewards. Two studies were conducted to examine the influence of different social contexts on the effects of procedural (PF) and distributive (DF) fairness. College students…

This study was designed to compare the psychosocial environments of different types of schools (primary, high schools, district schools, and secondary colleges). The Moos's Work Environment Scale (WES) was administered to teachers from government and non-government schools in Tasmania. The WES focused on the dimensions of involvement, work…

Since the time of Galton, high correlations have been noted in the IQ levels of identical twins, with relationships for twins reared in different families being only slightly lower than for twins reared together. This evidence has been held to demonstrate that intellectual differences among individuals and among groups are largely determined by…

This paper begins with an overview of several instruments for assessing the school environment, focusing on Moos's Work Environment Scale (WES). Although the WES was designed for use in any work milieu, its 10 dimensions of work environment (involvement, peer cohesion, staff support, autonomy, task orientation, work pressure, clarity, control,…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is committed to bringing together museums and libraries across the country for conversations dedicated to developing a better understanding of the roles of libraries and museums as providers of public service to communities. The Future of Libraries and Museums in the 21st Century Planning…

Both the social and physical aspects of the environment have been examined as causes of work behaviors and attitudes, but recent studies concerning the effect of open plan offices have shown inconsistent results. To assess the relative contributions of organizational level and the social and physical work environment in explaining employee…

This first section of this paper reviews the literature on the social world of the institutionalized elderly. Social factors contributing to institutionalization are discussed, including the personal and psychological background of residents. Social behavior and the institutional environment are reviewed, focusing on social interactions among…

Gerontologists have shown particular interest in whether old people's morale or life satisfaction is influenced by the quality of their residential environment. The extent to which older persons' assessments of their lives are influenced by their place of residence was examined through structured interviews with a random sample of 400 persons aged…

According to an employee withdrawal model suggested by Miller and Rosse (1982), workers engage in a variety of integrated behaviors that are intended to place physical and psychological distance between themselves and a noxious work environment. To investigate the relationship of job satisfaction and employee withdrawal behaviors, 48 newly hired,…

To determine whether support systems ameliorated the impact of divorce on family stress and child adjustment, the present study examined the availability to divorced families of various support systems, including the extended family, church, work, and community groups. Specifically, the study addressed the impact of parental support systems on…

Data from observations, parent questionnaires, and child interviews were collected from 36 preschool children and their parents for this investigation of the relationships between preschool children's play patterns at home and at school, and variables from the home environment. In addition, comparisons were made between: (1) mothers' responses to…

Within a longitudinal design, the present study assessed parental attitudes, quality of stimulation in the environment, historical factors, and children's temperament to identify determinants of cognitive ability at 54 months. Children (n=147) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: a center-based intervention, a home-based…

The purpose of this study was to apply the theory of person-environment fit in assessing student well-being in a university computer room. Subjects were 12 students enrolled in a computer literacy course. Their learning behavior and well-being were evaluated on the basis of three symptoms of video display terminal stress usually found in the…

This paper is part of a larger study, conducted as part of a Christa McAuliffe Fellowship research project, "A Comparative Geography of Three Ecologically Similar Regions." The study compared the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland with the Murray River region of South Australia and the Rio de la Plata region of Uruguay. The project was…