Do young children think of television images as pictures or real objects?

Three studies investigated whether 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds interpret television images as mere pictorial representations of objects or as real, physically‐present objects. Four‐year‐olds gave clear evidence of making the former interpretation whereas 3‐year‐olds seemed to make the latter one. However, the data suggest that the younger children's errors reflect a failure to differentiate conceptually between television images and their referent objects rather than a conviction that real objects populate television sets.     

PREDICTING TEST--RETEST RELIABILITY FROM BEHAVIOR CODING

In attempting to move questionnaire design from art to science,researchers use different evaluation techniques to help determinehow well questions are working. Techniques such as behaviorcoding, respondent debriefing, interviewer debriefing, cognitiveinterviewing, and nonresponse analysis all provide informationto help the questionnaire designer assess whether respondentsunderstand questions as intended and whether they are able toprovide adequate answers to them. However, these techniquesdo not actually measure question reliability. It is assumedthat questions that pass the screen of the questionnaire evaluationtechniques described above are also more likely to produce datathat are reliable and valid. In this paper, we use behaviorcoding data to predict test–retest reliability. Respondentbehavior codes significantly predict such reliability whereasinterviewer codes—at least in this survey—do not.We also report the results of sensitivity testing to determinewhat percentage of adequate respondent answers best predictstest—retest reliability.     

Implementation of approach to compute the Lyapunov characteristic exponents for continuous dynamical systems to higher dimensions

A general method for accurately computing the Lyapunov characteristic exponents (LCEs) of continuous dynamical systems has been developed in [10]. In this paper, this method is extended to implementations on systems of arbitrary dimensions. An accurate implementation of the extension of the method to compute LCEs that uses available numerical techniques is presented for systems of arbitrary dimensions. Previously in [10], the original approach had only been implemented for general systems of up to dimension three. Closed form expressions for the exponential of skew symmetric matrices of order 4 and 5 will be presented. These formulas are used to obtain an accurate and efficient implementation of the method for dynamical systems of dimensions 4 and 5. Numerical examples illustrating the accuracy of the implementations are presented.     

Missing children: how Chilean schools evaded accountability by having low-performing students miss high-stakes tests

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - High-stakes testing pressures schools to raise test scores, but schools respond to pressure in different ways. Some responses produce real,...     

Book reviews

Varela Gomes, Rosa. Cerâmicas Muçulmanas do Castelo de Silves. Silves: Museu Municipal de Arqueologia, 1988 (XELB, 1). 294pp, numerous figs, and pls.

Rubiera i Mata, María Jesús.Introducció a la literatura hispaho‐àrab (Col. ecció Xarc AI‐Andalus, l).Alicante: Universitat d'Alacant, 1989. 117pp.

Guichard, Pierre. L'Espagne et la Sicile musulmanes aux XI^e et XII^e siècles. Lyon: Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 1990. 232pp., figures, maps. FF. 138.‐ ‘ .

Lozano Cámara, Indalecio. Tres tratados árabes sobre el Cannabis Indica. Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Arabe, 1990. 220pp.

Powell, James M., ed. Muslims under Latin Rule, 1100–1300. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. 221pp.

Actas del Simposio Internacional sobre la Ciuidad Islámica. Ponencias y Comunicaciones. Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico de la Diputación Provincial, 1991. 474pp.

Neugebauer, Otto. Abu Shaker's “Chronography”: A treatise of the 13th Century on Chronological, Calendrical and Astronomical Matters, written by a Christian Arab, preserved in Ethiopie (Õsterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philos.‐Histor. Klasse: Sitzungsberichte, 498).Wien: Ö.A.W., 1988. 198pp., 7pl. OS 350.‐.

Arbel, Benjamin, Hamilton, Bernard and Jacoby, David, eds. Latins and Creeks in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204. London: Frank Cass, 1989. 245pp. £18.     

Combined Approach to Multi-Informant Data Using Latent Factors and Latent Classes: Trifactor Mixture Model

Although collecting data from multiple informants is highly recommended, methods to model the congruence and incongruence between informants are limited. Bauer and colleagues suggested the trifactor model that decomposes the variances into common factor, informant perspective factors, and item-specific factors. This study extends their work to the trifactor mixture model that combines the trifactor model and the mixture model. This combined approach allows researchers to investigate the common and unique perspectives of multiple informants on targets using latent factors and simultaneously take into account potential heterogeneity of targets using latent classes. We demonstrate this model using student self-rated and teacher-rated academic behaviors (N = 24,094). Model specification and testing procedures are explicated in detail. Methodological and practical issues in conducting the trifactor mixture analysis are discussed.