Written and spoken language contains inherent mechanisms driving motivation. Accessing and modifying psycholinguistic mechanisms, links language frames to changes in behavior within the context of motivational profiling. For example, holding an object like an imported apple feels safe until one is informed it was grown in a toxic waste dump.…

The manual provides vocational educators with information and guidelines regarding the design and use of questionnaires and interviews for gathering data and the construction, tabulation, and analysis of both open ended and forced response survey instruments. The first of nine chapters deals with surveys as a data collection technique, discusses…

Describes developments in multilevel modeling of educational and other social data. Suggests that such a technique be used for school effectiveness studies, political opinion surveys, and area-based studies. Recommends that the inherent hierarchical structure of social science data be reflected in statistical models. Argues that multilevel…

Reported are the results of a study designed to investigate and compare four cluster analytic procedures as potential methods for the analysis of educational data. A secondary objective was to determine whether or not there was some underlying multidimensional structure to a set of mathematics achievement data. The four clustering procedures (Ball…

The aims of this note are (a) to present data that show current trends in the choice of factor rotation in clinical research; (b) to propose that oblique rotations are inadequately represented in this literature; and (c) to present specific guidelines for rotation in clinical research. (Author)

This report examines the 1984 library and information science literature in order to characterize, analyze, and evaluate the published research of the field. The subjects and methods of research, types of libraries studied, and analytical techniques used are examined; a "core" journal group of 91 sources is established; and the amount…

The basic considerations that should be examined in performing an exploratory descriptive factor analysis of a communication concept are described in this paper. Factor analysis is a statistical technique designed to identify the fundamental, common elements within a pool of variables. For example, imagine asking students twenty questions all…

Pearson's unrestricted chi-square procedure is reviewed, and an historical presentation of Neyman's restricted chi-square test is introduced with a discussion of its theory and applicability to education. An example of the Neyman procedure is discussed in detail to familiarize researchers with this useful technique for analyzing contingency…

Conventional methods used for the presentation of pre- and post statistical information generally are deficient in economy and compactness and fail to show internal movement from pre- to posttest. This technique precludes these shortcomings through the presentation of information in a highly visible manner which reveals the strata of internal…

Article, written by members of the graduate seminar entitled Empirical Studies in Communication" at the University of Colorado, presumes that research in communication is a part of a process directed toward the formulation of an adequate explanation of human communication behavior. (Author/DR)

An explicit model identifying 10 relevant components of achievement gain scores has been developed. Based on that model, all students under consideration are stratified according to individual observed pretest score, and achievement gains are measured relative to the average and range of gains among students in the same prescore stratum. The…

With an emphasis on the problems of control of extraneous variables and threats to internal and external validity, the arrangement or design of experiments is discussed. The purpose of experimentation in an educational institution, and the principles governing true experimentation (randomization, replication, and control) are presented, as are…

This paper discusses the research methodology of the study "Alternative Patterns for Strengthening Community Service Programs" which examined programs in a large number of institutions of higher education. The first and major part of the paper deals with the use of case studies in generating data and communicating knowledge and feelings.…

The primary objectives of this paper are pedagogical: to provide a reliable semi-subjective transformation procedure that might be used without difficulty by beginning students in factor analysis; to clarify and extend the existing knowledge of oblique transformations in general; and to provide a brief but meaningful explication of the general…

Effect size is the degree of treatment effect in experimental research and is considered in relationship to power, significance criterion, and sample size. Effect size is useful in assessing meaningfulness of statistically significant research results. Its use as a discriminator between "meaningful" and "trivial" treatment effects is considered.…