This work began with a question about the challenges of nonverbal communication across cultures for both immigrant children in Canadian schools and a community of researchers. The question led to the gathering of an ensemble of researchers that included both adults and children. This article represents that collaborative group's approach to a…

Speedback is a continuous audience response technology system that was used to test concepts and variable relationships that had been derived earlier from large-sample, survey research methodology. Continuous audience response technologies used computer hardware and customized software to collect subjects' reactions to stimuli, usually videotaped…

Obtaining accurate and reliable data on curriculum and instruction in two-year colleges poses many unique problems for institutional researchers. The methodologies presented here are those used by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges in a study of science instructional programs. The study included a curriculum component, a survey of…

This paper reports on the results of two empirical studies which attempt to cast the source credibility variable in communication into a human information processing paradigm. The subjects for the studies were college students in an introductory communication course. The first study deals with the degree to which the processes of source…

Traditional measures of proximity all share three common weaknesses: (1) they are based on ratio-level measurement of physical distance that may not correspond to "psychological distance;" (2) they measure distance as a fixed rather than variable quantity; and (3) they measure distance between pairs of individuals rather than larger groups of…

The Colorado Council for Library Development commissioned a state survey to facilitate long range library planning. A survey was designed by Colorado Market Research Services, Inc. and directed to adults throughout the state to ascertain the information needs of the sample population. Citizens were queried as to the frequency of their library use,…

The relative precision of four methods of estimating missing data in principal components analysis was investigated. Artificial data with known characteristics, obtained from Cattell's "Plasmode: 30-10-4-2," was used with one third of the data on half of the variables being systematically eliminated. The four methods of missing data estimation…

The extent of error likely to occur with each of several approximations for the standard deviation, internal consistency reliability, and the standard error of measurement is analyzed. Approximations were compared with exact statistics obtained on 85 different classroom tests constructed and administered by professors in a variety of fields. Means…

There is a growing need for instrumentation which can enable us to observe and compute phenomena that take place in time. Although problems of observation, computation, interpretation and categorization vary from field to field and from problem to problem, it is possible to design an instrument for use in any situation where time-variables have to…

This compilation of research activity conducted during 1970-71 in the North Atlantic Region includes 45 abstracts of completed studies and a list of 22 studies that are in progress. All completed studies are available for loan from university libraries, departments of agricultural teacher education, state departments of agricultural teacher…

Volume II of the First Annual Report of the National Day Care Study (NDCS) funded by the Office of Child Development presents the research design for Phase II of the study and includes a detailed technical discussion of the study's analytical and methodological issues. The NDCS, being conducted over a period of three years, is designed to answer…

Reports on: (1) the formulation of a holistic, systems-based theory of cultural transmission; (2) a field guide developed for gathering the precise data needed to test the theory; and (3) a pilot study, involving the collection and analysis of data about six- to 12-year-old Americans, Israelis, and Mexicans, to test both guide and theory. (CMG)

Describes a study of 20 American historians that was conducted to better understand the nature of research in history. Highlights include choice of research topics, use of archives, writing habits, use of computers, the classification of historical knowledge, implications for libraries, and suggestions for future studies. (43 references) (LRW)

A device for organizing practitioners' observations, the Maternal Characteristics Scale is used here to identify traits that distinguish samples of Caucasian neglectful mothers from those who are not neglectful. This replication of the scale supported earlier findings that relatedness, impulse control, confidence, and verbal accessibility were…

Draws on research with Brazilian street children to present methodological and ethical challenges inherent in research with street children; provides suggestions for overcoming these challenges. Issues of concern include the following: definition and sampling, and lack of clarity in these areas; measurement aspects, including surveys,…