Matching behavior: Some methodological problems

Two classes of problems associated with specifying the controlling stimuli in matching experiments were discussed. The first class-control of matching behavior by cues other than the standard stimuli-was demonstrated by the results of a pseudomatching experiment. The second class related to the “effective” sample or standard stimulus set and to changes in the S’s matching strategy that may occur in a matching experiment.     

Multivariate information transmission

A multivariate analysis based on transmitted information is presented. It is shown that sample transmitted information provides a simple method for measuring and testing association in multi-dimensional contingency tables. Relations with analysis of variance are pointed out, and statistical tests are described.This work was supported in part by the Air Force Human Factors Operations Research Laboratories, and in part jointly by the Army, Navy, and Air Force under contract with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Several of the indices and tests discussed in this paper have been developed independently by J. E. Keith Smith (11) at the University of Michigan, and by W. R. Garner at Johns Hopkins University.     

Instrumental orientation to work; Theoretical and methodological problems

Research claiming to demonstrate a predominance of instrumental orientation to work among today's industrial workers is discussed on the basis of unemployment research and the author's experience with unemployed people and workers active in labour unions. Concentrating on Bertil Gardell's Swedish studies, the reliability, validity, and interpretation of a specific operationalization of instrumental-expressive orientation to work is examined. The auther argues the need for distinction between self-defensive and class-defensive adjustment, between defensive and offensive adjustment, and between adjustment and understanding, and she offers alternative interpretations of research results concerning instrumentality. It is suggested that the shortcomings of this research is related to the insufficient acknowledgement of the opposing class interests between those who buy and those who sell the labour power, and to the negligence of collective aspects of individual reactions.     

Evaluation of long term effects of phonemic awareness training in kinderarten: Illustrations of some methodological problems in evaluation research

The long-term effects of phonemic awareness training in kindergarten were evaluated by studying various aspects of reading, spelling, and oral phonological skills in school. In the kindergarten-part of the study 95 children divided into three experimental and two control groups took part. One year later 83 of them were identified and tested in school. The children who participated in the phonemic training program seemed to have benefited from it to some extent. At least they improved their scores on phonemic synthesis tests in school. Some children in the middle and high range of pretest performance seem to have avoided a risk for reading failure to a greater extent than the corresponding children in the control groups. It is suggested that phonemic training contributes to the development of accurate concepts of reading in the preschool child and makes the child less confused when confronted with formal reading instruction in school. Great variances, ceiling effects, and group heterogeneity created many difficulties in evaluating the training effects. The various methodological problems implied in evaluation research with nonequivalent control group design were analysed and illustrated with data from the present research.     

Subjective criteria and illusions in visual testing: some methodological limitations

It is argued that illusions cannot generally be investigated with criterion-independent methods. This limits the value of the data obtained from them. This is particularly important when the results are compared between groups of subjects, for example, between dyslexic readers and controls, since it is possible that the differences between the groups reflect differences with regard to criteria rather than real perceptual differences.     

A methodological review of sex-related access discrimination problems

This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature pertaining to sex-related access discrimination problems. The results indicate that positive and negative access discrimination occurs for both males and females. The major variables that appear to account for sex-related access discrimination are the sex role of the position, the amount of job-related information regarding the applicant, and the characteristics of the evaluator population. In general, it appears that the effects of access discrimination can be obfuscated if sufficient information is available regarding job-related variables other than sex. In selected instances, it also appears that populations which have been sensitized to female access discrimination problems may demonstrate reverse discrimination towards women applying for “out-of-role” positions. The article ends with a set of specific hypotheses designed to further investigate and clarify the process of sex-related discrimination in employment situations.     

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: methodological problems and questions in Silverman's experiments.

Analyses of procedures in Lloyd H. Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments identify problems and questions. Given the information provided, none of his experiments can be replicated, and none of his positive results were found under luminance conditions he reckoned in 1983 were typical of such outcomes. Furthermore, there is no evidence in any of his experiments that all stimuli were presented completely within the fovea, a condition critical to the production of positive findings (Silverman & Geisler, 1986). These considerations and the fact that no experiment using Silverman's procedures can yield unambiguous positive results (Fudin, 1986) underscore the need to start anew research in this area. Such research should be undertaken with a greater appreciation of methodological issues involved in exposing and encoding subliminal stimuli than that found in all but a few experiments on subliminal psychodynamic activation.