This paper presents an overview of research in the field of decision theory, with a focus on problem and identification. The goal is to make the decision-making process as rational as possible in order to maximize the rational administration of the organization. The decisions associated with educational administration can be categorized as…

A review of the critical thinking literature reveals that there is growing interest in developing instructional strategies to develop students' critical thinking skills and dispositions. This paper reviews the research literature regarding the nature of critical thinking in the following areas: (1) differences in the conceptualization of critical…

Related research suggests that children may show some simple understanding of event covariations by the early elementary school years. The present experiments use a rule analysis methodology to investigate covariation judgments of children in this age range. In Experiment 1, children in second, third and fourth grade judged covariations on 12…

Since media consumers must make a great many judgments about media messages and the effectiveness of any given message in meeting one's needs, media teachers should develop materials and activities to facilitate the learning of effective media usage skills. Teachers can help students to become more effective media consumers by providing an…

Few studies have attempted to measure the strength of attachment in personal relationships or the stress associated with the loss of those relationships. To measure the perceived strength of attachment and stress of loss of 20 typical relationships (e.g.,wife or husband, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, friend, lover, grandparents, and…

Many researchers have begun to investigate juvenile justice as a series of interdependent treatment and punishment decisions made by different professionals. To test the effects of resource availability and agency type on judgments of amenability to treatment, court personnel (N=49), social service workers (N=66), and community mental health…

The proliferation of critics and critical approaches has produced a trend toward fragmentation and isolation among the practitioners involved. A suggestive counter-trend indicates that there is intense curiosity among critics to watch colleagues encounter texts, grapple with the preliminary questions of stance and method, and share the experience…

Debate paradigms, which at one time established standards to help judges evaluate arguments and rules to guide debaters' argument choice and strategy selection, no longer offer consistent guidance for either judges or debaters. An increased emphasis on creativity and flexibility has led to a general unwillingness to use a rigid debate format. The…

The decisions President Richard Nixon and his closest advisors made in the Watergate coverup were products of what Irving Janis calls "groupthink." Groupthink, a type of decision-making emphasizing unanimity over objective evaluation, develops when the decision makers (1) form a group of marked cohesiveness, (2) insulate themselves from…

Summative evaluation is the final stage of the evaluation framework developed by the Center for the Study of Evaluation. Evaluation is a decision-oriented activity. The four-stage evaluation framework consists of needs assessment, program planning, formative and summative evaluation. The handbook presents exercises in summative evaluation. The…

In contrast to linear models of human judgment developed for predictive purposes which are characteristically insensitive to the exact values of the weights utilized in them, the Linear Multiple Regression Models used for policy capturing are assumed to reflect significant aspects of the subjects' judgmental policies. This latter kind of modelling…

Research suggests that the perception of personal competence may account for a significant portion of the variance in individual physical and psychological well-being. Yet to be investigated is how people arrive at judgments of their competence, the structure of personal competence perception represented by these judgments, and the relation of the…

This investigation employed an in-basket simulation to assess the effect of provisional analysis on the use of evaluation data by program administrators in making program decisions. Sixty-five volunteers from graduate education courses and 52 volunteers from undergraduate educational psychology classes at Western Kentucky University were randomly…

This paper develops some generalizations about uses of political scientists and political science in government. Information is based on essays written by political scientists which appear in the "Political Science Utilization Directory." Developed by the Policy Studies Organization, this publication includes largely verbatim survey results…