An alternative procedure for analyzing job analysis results for content-oriented test development

Content-oriented test development requires information derived from a comprehensive job analysis. The job data typically consist of task and skill statements identified by subject matter experts. These statements characterize a target job and are then used to develop the test plan and item budget. The predominant practice for combining data from the task and job skill domains to facilitate preparation of a test plan and item budget is an impressionistic approach. This study reports variations and extensions of an alternative quantitative procedure for linking task and job skill data (Hughes & Prien, 1989) using results obtained in field studies. The results indicate that the procedure reported by Hughes and Prien (1989) yields consistent results. Also, modifications to the procedure result in more detailed solutions.Dr. Charles Lawshe graciously contributed three sets of job analysis data to this research project. Dr. Lawshe also provided a very thoughtful and cogent critique of our attempts to express these thoughts to a user audience and for this we are grateful.     

Cross-Cultural Counseling and Neurolinguistic Mirroring With Native American Adolescents

This study examined the effects of neurolinguistic mirroring versus nonmirroring of selected nonverbal behaviors on empathy, trustworthiness, and positive interaction in a cross-cultural setting among 60 Choctaw adolecents and Caucasian female counselors. Results indicated significant mirroring effects on the empathy scale of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory.     

Family coping strategies and the rural Appalachian working poor

Naturalistic research methods were used in this study to collect the voices, ideas, and opinions of rural, working poor, Appalachian families from Southeast Ohio about the stress of poverty in family life and family coping in the face of poverty. This data should be of interest to the professional family therapist who practices with the working poor.     

A near-death experience among the Mapuche people

This paper describes a possible near-death experience (NDE) among the Mapuche people of Chile. The individual reporting the experience was in a cataleptic-like state for two days, the experience itself occurring at the end of this period. Some common features of NDEs, such as encounters with deceased people and being sent back, are present, together with clear evidence that past and present cultural environment shape in part the content of mental experiences.This work was funded in part by the University of Chile (DTI Project Q-3064).The author thanks Editorial Andrés Bello for permissionto translate the near death account into English.     

The effects of violence on infants and young children: international perspectives on prevention

People become subject to political and social violence when governments fail to give priority to basic health care or education. Attempts to meet foreign obligations also produce severe economic recessions which further impede efforts to improve the general quality of life of disadvantaged populations. Since multiple factors contribute to violence, a multidisciplinary approach is best suited to address the problem. For example, poverty and its associated risks are linked to violence, but living in poverty does not necessarily engender violence. Living in poverty may, however, fuel high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, malnutrition, excessive population growth, street children, and familial disintegration. An integrated action program was developed in Brazil for at-risk individuals and their families based upon the idea of building and reinforcing family ties and intergenerational togetherness. Undernourished infants, street children, the handicapped, women subjected to violence, and neglected senior citizens received special interventions in the program described in the text.     

Scientific realism and the criteria for theory-choice

The central terms of certain theories which were valued highly in the past, such as the phlogiston theory, are now believed by realists not to refer. Laudan and others have claimed that, in the light of the existence of such theories, scientific realism is untenable. This paper argues in response that realism is consistent with — and indeed is able to explain — such theories' having been highly valued and yet not being close to the truth. It follows that the set of highly-valued past theories cited by Laudan, presumed to militate against realism, is in fact innocuous to the doctrine. The argument hinges largely on identifying the grounds on which theory-adoption is actually performed.     

Group analytic therapy with schizophrenic outpatients

This paper describes a model for group analytic psychotherapy with patients who have been psychotic, namely, schizophrenics and manic depressives. The groups are run on the group centered principles of S. H. Foulkes. They are continuous, slow-open groups, in line with these patients' needs for long-term therapy. A theory is proposed which justifies treating these patients in group-centered groups despite their great dependency needs. The paper also describes the task of the therapist in building and running such a group.Acknowledgments to Geoffrey Elkan, Marcia Levene, Noa Rotem, Aya Levi-Posnanski, Yossi Ezrati, S. Littman, Tamar Sternberg, E. Danilowitz, and C. Kauffman.     

On the processing of arguments

This paper is concerned with the processing of informal arguments, that is, arguments involving probable truth. A model of informal argument processing is presented that is based upon Hample's (1977) expansion of Toulmin's (1958) model of argument structure. The model postulates that a claim activates an attitude, the two components forming a complex that in turn activates reasons. Furthermore, the model holds occurrence of the reason, or possibly the claim and the reason, activates values. Three experiments are described that provide support for the model.This research was supported by the Mellon Foundation and by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the Department of Education via an award for the Center for the Study of Learning to the Learning Research and Development Center. The contents of the paper are not necessarily the position of any of these organizations.