An Empirical Study on the Research and Critical Evaluation Skills of Law Students

Although scholars have explored many aspects of legal education, the fundamental analysis of research behavior and the quality of research skills remains somewhat uncharted territory. There have been assessments of the research skills of incoming law students and the effectiveness of various research programs but little to assess skills and preferences of existing law students. Building on surveys and studies from other disciplines, this article describes an effort to gather empirical data on law students' legal research practices.     

News Audiences Revisited: Theorizing the Link Between Audience Motivations and News Consumption

With a plethora of news outlets today, audiences have more choices than ever. Yet, academic and professional understanding of news audiences from a uses and gratifications perspective remains limited. Using a national survey (N = 1143), this study uncovers distinct news consumption patterns across 4 types of motivations, and predicts media uses across 30 sources with noticeably higher explanatory power as compared to previous uses and gratifications studies, answering the question: Who is using what type of news, and why?     

Vertical Integration and Market Foreclosure in the Korean Cable Television Industry: An Empirical Study

This study investigated vertical foreclosure effects in the Korean cable television market. While it focuses mainly on vertical foreclosure, the study also examined reciprocal carriage between large vertically integrated cable operators. From the analysis of cross-sectional data regarding cable operators' carriage information in Korea, two conclusions were derived. First, vertically integrated cable operators tend to carry their affiliated channels and were less likely to carry their rivals' channels. Second, the data suggest that large vertically integrated cable operators were engaged in reciprocal carriage.     

Work Values of Community College Students

Evaluation often is seen as one of the critical issues facing the two‐year college. This is true in the sense that evaluation is not used as frequently as it should be to aid in making major decisions, but this perspective can exaggerate the intrinsic importance of the field to schools. It is more profitable to view evaluation as a tool for studying other issues. Needs assessment, implementation evaluation, formative evaluation, and summative evaluation constitute the major types of evaluation for making decisions. Each type suggests the general categories of information that must be collected, analyzed, and interpreted, as illustrated by the example of staff development at a two‐year college. Together, the four types, the categories of information and the order in which the types of evaluation occur form a general model of evaluation. Diverse methods for carrying out each type have been developed that permit selection of one appropriate to most situations that may be encountered.     

Teaching of English to Undereducated Adults

Abstract

Teaching English to undereducated adults has been a frustrating experience for many teachers. This research review points to various factors that might account for the language-based problems of educationally deficit adults, implications are drawn for classroom teachers.     

Texas Community College Funding: Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Ad Valorem Tax Rates and Revenue

This article examines ad valorem tax rates per $100 valuation and the resultant tax revenues per in-district contact hour for Texas nonmetropolitan and metropolitan public community colleges. The results of the analyses indicate no difference in ad valorem tax rates between these institutions but demonstrate differences in the resultant tax revenues. Recommendations for further research are provided.     

CREATING A COLLABORATIVE CAMPUS CULTURE

Organizational culture influences whether or not community colleges maintain local support as well as overall institutional effectiveness. This paper discusses culture and the context of culture at River Parishes Community College (RPCC) a new institution within the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, currently in its fifth academic year. Implemented to provide faculty, staff, and students with an opportunity to share ideas and strategies for improving student success, the Education for Success through Partnership Rallies on Instruction and Teaching (ESPRIT) expressly aspires to shape campus culture and promote collaboration. This paper discusses organizational culture as well as it reflects the goals and cultural implications of the ESPRIT program at RPCC.     

Sewall wright on the method of path coefficients: An annotated bibliography

When Dudley Duncan and others became interested in linear causal models, they discovered a genetic biologist had laid down the groundwork for them over nearly a 50‐year period. This annotated bibliography covers Sewall Wright's development of the method of path coefficients.     

An Investigation of Explanation Multiple-Choice Items in Science Assessment

Both multiple-choice and constructed-response items have known advantages and disadvantages in measuring scientific inquiry. In this article we explore the function of explanation multiple-choice (EMC) items and examine how EMC items differ from traditional multiple-choice and constructed-response items in measuring scientific reasoning. A group of 794 middle school students was randomly assigned to answer either constructed-response or EMC items following regular multiple-choice items. By applying a Rasch partial-credit analysis, we found that there is a consistent alignment between the EMC and multiple-choice items. Also, the EMC items are easier than the constructed-response items but are harder than most of the multiple-choice items. We discuss the potential value of the EMC items as a learning and diagnostic tool.     

Assessing Knowledge Integration in Science: Construct,Measures, and Evidence

In response to the demand for sound science assessments, this article presents the development of a latent construct called knowledge integration as an effective measure of science inquiry. Knowledge integration assessments ask students to link, distinguish, evaluate, and organize their ideas about complex scientific topics. The article focuses on assessment topics commonly taught in 6th- through 12th-grade classes. Items from both published standardized tests and previous knowledge integration research were examined in 6 subject-area tests. Results from Rasch partial credit analyses revealed that the tests exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties with respect to internal consistency, item fit, weighted likelihood estimates, discrimination, and differential item functioning. Compared with items coded using dichotomous scoring rubrics, those coded with the knowledge integration rubrics yielded significantly higher discrimination indexes. The knowledge integration assessment tasks, analyzed using knowledge integration scoring rubrics, demonstrate strong promise as effective measures of complex science reasoning in varied science domains.