It is the thesis of this paper that the amount of technical knowledge available in certain areas of clinical psychology and related fields is now sufficient to permit considerable advances to be made in the decision-making aspects of mental health services. (Author)

Parents and matriculating students responded to identical survey items about the college selection process. Analysis of paired responses indicated that parent and student perceptions of the college selection process were too inconsistent to conclude that parents' information would be useful in understanding their children's decision to attend…

Analysis of consumer decision making following deregulation of the telephone industry (based on a sample of 500 Pennsylvania residents) shows that independent decision making and tendency to use information and influence others are highly interrelated. Four types of consumers were identified: influential, active, dependent, and nondecision makers.…

Reviews major events leading to the publication of the Anglo American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2) and discusses information sources which played a part in the AACR2 decision making process including: (1) the AACR2 volume itself; (2) the Library of Congress; (3) networks and consortia; (4) conferences, institutes, and workshops; (5)…

Two studies were conducted to investigate information needs and the processes of information utilization at the local school district level and in institutions of higher education. The first of these studies was a survey of several school districts. In each district a questionnaire was distributed which asked for data concerning sources of…

Results of the study have been interpreted to imply that peer influence may be a strong factor in judgmental modification; stronger perhaps than dogmatism. (Author/EB)

Reports on a comparison of processes used by adult educators to decide where to get information in two statewide programs in Iowa. (JOW)

Reports on a classic example of newspapers' uncritical acceptance of wire service news copy. Suggests that newspapers adopt a more critical stance toward the wire services, assuming responsibility for changing or balancing material that violates journalistic principles. (RL)

Decisionmaking is the process of choosing among alternatives, or turning inputs into outputs. In a situation of information overload, inputs exceed the decisionmaker's capacity to assimilate and act on the information as well as his ability to evaluate every alternative. Decisionmakers have a variety of responses to information overload, some of…

A procedure designed to help instructional decision-makers evaluate individual sources of diagnostic information in terms of their functional utility may add a desirable measure of precision to their instructional prescriptions for learners. (Author)

Provides baseline data concerning the public's use of public libraries and its use of the Internet in order to identify reasons for which each provider is used; to identify decision criteria that people use when choosing providers; and to assess how consumers evaluate the performance of libraries and of the Internet. (Author/LRW)

In a survey of 1,164 British nurses (87% responded), written information, discussions with educators, and personal or family member involvement in health care were positive influences on the decision to become a nurse. Family members, especially mothers, were supportive; secondary school teachers and fathers of male nurses were less encouraging.…

Society increasingly perceives information as an owned commodity. As a consequence, laws born from this conception are removing uses of information from the public domain and placing them in an enclosed domain where they are subject to an owner's exclusive control. It has been argued that this enclosure movement poses a threat to the diversity of…

There is a tendency for debaters and judges to view a single quote or opinion as conclusive evidence proving a point. But evidence can only point toward a conclusion; it cannot prove a conclusion conclusively. Experts may offer their opinions (sometimes as fact) but these opinions are only educated guesses. This is not to say that evidence from…

Subjects in this study were asked to report the number of contacts-for-advice they had made when forming decisions to have a therapeutic abortion, or to carry a pregnancy to term. As predicted, the abortion group differed strongly from both other groups on most questions. (Author)