A study used 18 television commericals, selected as representative of a variety of executional styles and products, and generated scores for each of them on 18 dimensions of structural variation. In addition, a multivariate analysis was used to examine the relations both among the dimensions and between these dimensions and some common measures of…

A method for statistical analysis of semantic differential data in educational evaluation is discussed. Estimated scores for unobserved affective variables are obtained using the canonical factor regression method. This method overcomes previous prolems of bias and inefficiency in computing composite affective indices. In an application of the…

This research reports the development of a semantic differential for rating nonverbal style of expressiveness in a population of expectant mothers. Mothers' nonverbal features (facial expression, gestures, voice quality) were emphasized as uniquely valid indices of emotional attitudes towards parenthood and as the principal forms of interpersonal…

The purpose of this study was to assess the commitment of art instructors to the formal dissemination of information about black art and aesthetics as reflected in the performance of 54 instructors in 11 Southeastern colleges and universities. Instructors were evaluated in terms of their ability to identify 32 illustrations of salient and most…

The feelings and perceptions of adolescents, apart from objective indices, warrent attention from those who are concerned with adolescent development and psychological stress. There is a need for a reliable baseline measure of adolescent subjective well-being, as manifested by self-reports of life satisfaction, to which future measurements can be…

Research has suggested that moral judgment is a construct which can be measured to some degree by an objectively scored instrument. This study investigated whether moral judgment is stable enough to be accurately measured. A test of moral judgment was developed, and special care was taken to ensure that the researcher was aware of the moral issues…

Test evaluation summaries completed by the Center for the Study of Evaluation in 1970 and 1976 were used to determine changes in test quantity and quality among elementary-level standardized instruments. In the earlier studies, the instruments were rated in four general areas: measurement validity, examinee appropriateness, administrative…

Reported is a study of sixth-graders' attitudes towards electrical energy. Students in Catawba County, North Carolina schools, which field-tested the Energy for Today and Tomorrow (EFTT) module, completed a 17-item attitude test, the Environmental Opinion Scale. This instrument measured opinions regarding nuclear power, electrical power…

The National Symposium for Professors of Educational Research for 1976 focused on two topics: the nature of affect, and principles and guidelines for measuring individual affect and learning environment. This document contains five major papers presented at the conference. The first paper contrasted the physiological and emotional concept of…

New social studies materials are based on inquiry modes of learning and teaching; however, little is known as to what students actually learn from an inquiry model (except for cognitive knowledge). An inquiry model and test to measure the "unmeasurable" in the social studies--namely, a student's ability to use the scientific process,…

A scale to identify important behaviors in preschool children was developed, and ratings were related to more traditional indices of development and academic readiness. Teacher interviews were used to identify 62 specific behaviors related to maximally adapted and maximally maladapted kindergarten children. These were incorporated into a…

Presented is the summary report of a project designed to review the state of the art in basic areas of affective development in the normal and handicapped preschool child. Reviewed are theories of affect and development of specific emotions with particular emphasis on five dimensions (emergence of self, caretaker attachment, adaptation-mastery,…

The effects of classroom environment on students' achievement and perceptions of their learning environment were studied. The learning environment was categorized according to teachers' scores on the Open Education Teacher Questionnaire (OETQ). The scores on the OETQ were trichotomized to permit the formation of three groups--conventional, medium…

Relationships were assessed among five perspectives of children's adjustment: teacher, parent, peer and self-ratings, and behavior observations. Secondary purposes were to examine relationships between adjustment and achievement measures and to compare urban vs. suburban, male vs. female, and referred vs. nonreferred children on adjustment…

Investigated the impact of marital status on how people organize and interpret subjective experience, comparing national survey responses of first-married, divorced, and remarried adults. Found the way that respondents structured their subjective evaluations differed significantly not only from one another but also, except for first-married…