Research on client perceptions and expectations: Client Perceptions of Counselors' Nonverbal Behavior: A Reevaluation

The purpose of this audiovisual counseling study was to determine if variations in counselor nonverbal behavior result in enhanced or debilitated perceptions of counselor expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness. Three groups of participants rated the perceived expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness of a counselor emitting nonverbal behavior at a high, moderate, or low frequency. In addition, a fourth group rated the perceived expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness of the counselor role. Results indicate that: (a) low frequency counselor nonverbal behavior results in debilitated perceptions of counselors; (b) the counselor role is perceived as moderately expert, attractive, trustworthy, and helpful; and (c) compared with the counselor role, high frequency counselor nonverbal behavior does not enhance the perceived expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness of counselors. Implications for counseling practice, theory, and research are discussed.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTENT REPRESENTATION FOR COMMON-ITEM EQUATING WITH NONRANDOM GROUPS

The equating accuracy of content-representative anchors versus nonrepresen-tative but substantially longer anchors is compared. Content representation was defined as a match between anchors and total test of the percentage of items in each of several content areas. Through a chain of equatings it was found that content representation in anchors was critical for the testing program studied. The results are explained in terms of differences in mean profiles (by content area) of the nonrandom groups used for equating.     

The Contribution of International Academic Co-operation and Exchange to the Development and Advancement of Society

The author discusses the role of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the ongoing effort to internationalize German higher education. This organization endeavours to bring a substantial number of international students and academics to Germany and to enable German students and academics to study, do research, and teach abroad. Germany is a strong partner in the ongoing Bologna Process. German universities have introduced Bachelor's and Master's degree-level course programmes and are restructuring their doctoral programmes. They are forming networks with foreign universities all over the world. DAAD spends more than €60 million a year in support of structural changes in German universities leading to increased internationalization.