Publishing Your Research Results: Some Suggestions and Counsel

Success in publishing research results in counseling and other journals can determine whether professionals obtain or retain jobs and also impacts what knowledge is or is not disseminated in the literature. The author presents suggestions for being successful in publishing research results and also explores strategies for disseminating results once they are published.     

TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURED CRITERIA FOR INTERPRETATION OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS DATA

Using functional analysis results to prescribe treatments is the preferred method for developing behavioral interventions. Little is known, however, about the reliability and validity of visual inspection for the interpretation of functional analysis data. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a set of structured criteria for visual inspection of multielement functional analyses that, when applied correctly, would increase interrater agreement and agreement with interpretations reached by expert consensus. In Study 1, 3 predoctoral interns interpreted functional analysis graphs, and interrater agreement was low (M = .46). In Study 2, 64 functional analysis graphs were interpreted by a panel of experts, and then a set of structured criteria were developed that yielded interpretive results similar to those of the panel (exact agreement = .94). In Study 3, the 3 predoctoral interns from Study 1 were trained to use the structured criteria, and the mean interrater agreement coefficient increased to .81. The results suggest that (a) the interpretation of functional analysis data may be less reliable than is generally assumed, (b) decision-making rules used by experts in the interpretation of functional analysis data can be operationalized, and (c) individuals can be trained to apply these rules accurately to increase interrater agreement. Potential uses of the criteria are discussed.     

Wittgenstein, Tolstoy and the Meaning of Life

Tolstoy's writings were clearly important to Wittgenstein. He carried Tolstoy's The Gospel in Brief with him during the war, and he said that it 'virtually kept [him] alive'. But commentators have hesitated to extend Tolstoy's influence to Wittgenstein's philosophy. This essay argues that there are important parallels in structure and content between Tolstoy's A Confession and Wittgenstein's Tractatus which suggest Tolstoy's influence and which help us to see how we should understand the Tractatus. By comparing these two works we can see more clearly in the Tractatus the idea that the solution to philosophical problems lies in their disappearance and that the structure and content of the Tractatus are expressions of that conception.     

The Caregivers of Stroke Patients: An Investigation of Factors Associated with Depression

Caregivers of the elderly and infirm are often under more stress and report lower life satisfaction than matched groups of noncaregivers. Forty caregivers of stroke patients (usually a spouse) were interviewed an average of 9 months poststroke to determine the factors associated with poorer caregiver adjustment. Four classes of variables were expected to be related to depression in caregivers: level of functioning of the patient, caregiver perceptions of increased work and burden due to the stroke, the quality of the patient-caregiver relationship, and caregivers' interpretations of their situation. Background characteristics were also measured. As predicted, variables in each class were significantly related to depression. Multiple regression analysis showed three significant independent predictors of caregiver depression. Caregivers are more depressed if the patient is more physically impaired, if caregivers report disharmony in the family, and if they have lesser perceptions of hope Ways to apply these findings to the development of interventions to ameliorate caregiver depression are discussed.     

ADOLESCENT PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL POWER: DO FAMILY SIZE AND ORDINAL POSITION OF THE CHILD MAKE A DIFFERENCE?*

The literature suggests that parent-child interactions differ in relation to both birth order and family size. There are arguments in the literature concerning whether observed effects should be attributed to structural factors or to such demographic variables as SES and parental education. The present research attempts to deal with some of the theoretical questions and methodological problems encountered in determining mediators of birth order and parental interaction effects. Reports of parental involvement, or indices of such involvement, in 34 interaction areas were collected from 189 Iranian high school students from families of at least 2 children, and were analyzed using multiple regression procedures. In general, results showed birth order effects were mediated by size of family. Respondents from ‘small’ families (of 2–4 children) differed from those from larger families. In large families, first-borns had the most paternal (or the least maternal) orientations. In small families, last-boms had the most paternal (least maternal) orientations. Middle-borns were not significantly different from the first-boms in small or in large families. It is concluded that further cross-cultural studies of differential parental interaction with different birth orders are needed before a theoretical framework can be offered to explain birth order effects.     

Effects of novelty and familiarity on illness-induced aversions to food and place cues in coyotes (Canis latrans)

Two experiments investigated the effects of novelty and familiarity on illness-induced aversions to taste and place cues in coyotes (Canis latrans). Coyotes were made ill on familiar food laced with lithium chloride in a novel place and then received preference tests. In Experiment 1, coyotes avoided the previously poisoned familiar food in the novel treatment place but readily ate the same familiar food in a familiar safe place. In Experiment 2, the results of Experiment 1 were replicated, and it was found that coyotes would eat a different familiar food in the novel treatment place. On the basis of the results of this and other studies, a model for averting animals from places where they are not wanted is presented.     

Modality-specific interference with overt mediation by pigeons in a delayed discrimination task

Pigeons were trained on a delayed discrimination task in which they were rewarded for pecking a white terminal stimulus (TS) presented 5 sec after a green initial stimulus (IS) and for not pecking the white TS when it followed a red IS. Each bird bridged the memory interval (MI) with overt mediational behaviors. Nevertheless, sustained retroactive interference (RI) effects were produced by houselight illumination (Experiments 1 and 3), and mild shock pulses (Experiment 5) but not white noise (Experiment 2) presented during the MI. Although the magnitude of the light-induced RI effect was proportional to the duration of houselight illumination (Experiment 4), the beginning-end effect described by W. A. Roberts and D. S. Grant (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1978, 4, 219–236) was not observed. These results not only attest to the between-task robustness of both light-induced RI and modality-specific effects with pigeons, but also support the hypothesis that RI effects result from the disruption of mediational activities possibly analogous to rehearsal. The results further demonstrate that an event interpolated within the MI need not be unexpected or novel to produce RI. Furthermore, the interpolated event can produce modality-specific RI effects even though it effects a different sense than do the IS and TS.