The communication investigator: Teaching research methods to undergraduates

This essay explores the basic communication research course for undergraduates. Discussed are several key notions for making this course valuable to the undergraduate: the attitude of the instructor, the attitude of the students, course requirements and activities, and evaluation techniques.     

Effects of network treatments on perceptions of a political campaign film: Can rhetorical criticism make a difference?

Presented here are the findings from a quasi‐experimental comparison of three network treatments of “A New Beginning,” a campaign film that aroused considerable controversy when the Republicans substituted it for a speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention as a way of getting the networks to air it. Of paramount interest in the study were the effects on viewers of one network's critical preview of the film. Of the three major networks, only NBC elected to air the entire film, but they preceded its showing with a commentary on the film that was far more critical than those by CBS and ABC. Surprisingly, Ss predisposed toward Ronald Reagan did not derogate the NBC treatment of the film, but neither did NBC's criticisms adversely affect perceptions of the film. To the contrary, ratings of the film and network treatments of the film were highest for NBC viewers. The findings are discussed with a view toward assessing the uses and limitations of rhetorical criticism in television coverage of political campaigns.     

Economic rationalism and the politics of education in Australia

Until the mid‐1970s, the politics of urban school desegregation concentrated almost exclusively on the attainment of some form of racial balance. The racial balance paradigm became the focal point for desegregation planners and for local, state and national dispute about ‘forced bussing’. However, in its 1977 Milliken II ruling, the Supreme Court added critical new elements to the urban school desegregation paradigm. By affirming a desegregation plan which included remedial education components in all‐minority schools, and which required state participation in financing these components, Milliken II heralded a new era of urban school desegregation. Resource issues and school effectiveness issues joined racial balance issues in the crucible of desegregation politics. In this chapter, the post‐Milliken politics of urban school desegregation are highlighted through examination of the St Louis and Kansas City cases. New goals, new issues, new alignments of interests and new political strategies are apparent, presenting new challenges to students of urban education policy and politics.     

Statement of Theme

School accountability and student assessment are closely associated in educational jurisdictions’ attempts to monitor student achievement, focus instruction, and improve subsequent student and school performance. The research reported in this article examines the School Effectiveness Framework in Ontario, Canada, exploring the foundations upon which the framework is based and educators’ efforts to use assessment information to monitor the effectiveness of their reform efforts. Through document analysis and interviews, the researchers highlight the challenges and opportunities surrounding the accountability and assessment partnership.     

Functional Competence in Mathematics

Cognitive and educational researchers are paying increasing attention to the impact of instruction in the college classroom. Recent research has demonstrated that students' manipulated perceptions of control and success can impede or enhance the benefits of one effective teaching behavior, namely, instructor expressiveness. In this study, students' actual perceptions of control and success were assessed, rather than manipulated. In a simulated college classroom, students were classified into perceived control (low, high) and perceived success (low, high) categories based on their perceptions of control and success over their prelecture test performance. Students were presented with either unexpressive or expressive instruction; then they completed a postlecture achievement test and postachievement questionnaire. Under both instruction conditions, high-control/high-success students demonstrated the best achievement results, whereas, inconsistent with the hypotheses, students with low perceptions of control and high perceptions of success demonstrated the poorest academic performance and unique affects. These results are discussed in relation to the significance of individual differences across teaching conditions.     

The Physical Education Predisposition Scale: Preliminary development and validation

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to develop and test psychometrically the Physical Education Predisposition Scale, to assess secondary school students' cost–benefit assessment of physical education (PE) participation (PE attitude affective and attitude cognitive) and self-perceptions (PE perceived competence and self-efficacy). Secondary aims were to explore how the two variables were related, and to investigate age and gender differences. Altogether, 315 Year 8 and 9 students (aged 12–14 years) from four North West England schools completed the Physical Education Predisposition Scale. Principal components analysis revealed the presence of a simple two-factor solution explaining 60.7% of the variance. Factor 1 (labelled Perceived PE Worth) reflected attitude affective and attitude cognitive (α = 0.91), and factor 2 (Perceived PE Ability) represented perceived competence and self-efficacy (α = 0.89). Significant positive correlations were observed between the factors (r = 0.67 to 0.71, P < 0.001). Boys scored significantly higher than girls on Perceived PE Worth (P < 0.001) and Perceived PE Ability (P = 0.02). Similarly, Year 8 students scored significantly higher than Year 9 students on Perceived PE Worth (P = 0.005) and Perceived PE Ability (P < 0.001). Our results support the potential of the Physical Education Predisposition Scale as a concise measurement tool for use in the PE setting, for both teachers and researchers.