The Weird World,and Equally Weird Measurement Models: Reactive Indicators and the Validity Revolution

Researchers using structural equation modeling (SEM) aspire to learn about the world by seeking models with causal specifications that match the causal forces extant in the world. This quest for a model matching existing worldly causal forces constitutes an ontology that orients, or perhaps reorients, thinking about measurement validity. This article illustrates several ways the seemingly innocuous quest for structural equation models that mirror “the world beyond” confronts entrenched notions of measurement validity. The article begins by considering simple measurement models and ends by “discovering” a new class of indicators called reactive indicators. Reactive indicators act as both the cause and effect of an underlying latent variable. The identifiability of a simple model containing a reactive indicator is proven and a research example illustrating the use of a reactive indicator is provided. However, the real challenge is to understand how an indicator can be both a cause and effect of the latent it measures. The understanding does not come from complying with the traditional rules for reliability and validity, but from focusing on the quest to make the structural equation model match the structuring of the worldly forces we seek to understand. Valid measurement in the context of a weirdly structured world requires an equally weird structural equation model.     

Mixed Message Resolution and Children's Responses to Interadult Conflict

In everyday life marital conflict resolutions may contain consistent or mixed messages (e.g., an angry apology). How do children weight content and emotion information in responding? 5–7- and 9–12-year-olds viewed videotaped interadult conflicts in which the content and emotion of endings were either consistent or discrepant. Both the younger and older children responded to content and emotion cues in their perceptions of adults' anger and conflict resolution, with positive emotion and nonconflictual endings each improving appraisals. These findings have implications for children's emotional security in reaction to marital conflict. Younger children focused on ( a ) the content of endings when estimating their own emotional distress and ( b ) adults' emotionality when suggesting interventions. Older children reacted emotionally to both content and emotion cues. They proposed task-oriented help for partially resolved conflicts and suggested mediation when conflicts were unresolved.     

Opportunities for school psychologists in rural school settings

Rural school psychologists from California, Georgia, Indiana, and Iowa were mailed questionnaires asking them to describe the advantages of practicing school psychology in rural school settings. Three main clusters of responses emerged, including: close contact and good working relationships with teachers, administrators, and parents; role diversity and autonomy; and positive environmental context. Levels of job satisfaction also were investigated. A total of 59% of the psychologists reported high or very high job satisfaction, while 33% reported an average level of satisfaction, and only 8% reported a low level of satisfaction.     

Approaches to manpower planning

Summary This article has presented a rationale for manpower planning and has explored the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of five of the commonly utilized strategies for approaching manpower planning. Just as disciplines, e.g., economics, sociology and political science, are not clearly discrete areas of inquiry but, in part, overlap one another, so also do the above cited strategies overlap and merge in thede facto arenas of application and analysis. The arbitrary identification of five approaches is intended here only as an initial taxonomy. Thus, this analysis was initiated within a spirit of inquiry and is intended not to reflect dogma, complacency, or premature judgment, but rather to present the application of social science principles to the resolution of immediate and pressing educational problems of transnational significance.

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Methodische Ansätze der Arbeitskräfteplanung

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Conceptions de la planification de la main-d'oeuvre

     

The effect of additional testing on conservation of number performance

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of response climate, by examining the effects of an additional testing experience, on the conservation of number performance of 4- and 5-year-old lower socioeconomic status children. A second purpose was to determine if there is a differential effect of response climate for children at various stages of development and/or for each sex. Results indicated that when compared with a control group, participation in an additional testing session resulted in significantly higher conservation of number performance scores for both male and female 4- and 5-year-old lower socioeconomic children at Level III of development. The greatest difference in this performance, however, was exhibited by males. Additional testing did not significantly affect the performance of males and females at Levels I and II of development.     

Is Earlier Better? Mastery of Reading Fluency in Early Schooling

Research Findings: The goal of the present study was to provide empirical evidence for the importance of mastering reading fluency in early schooling. Study participants were 1,322 students in 3rd grade in 42 schools in a northwestern state. These students were assessed using a battery of reading skill tests as well as comprehensive tests of more general reading outcomes from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Practice or Policy: The results of the study show that mastery of reading fluency prior to currently established benchmarks is a significant positive predictor of later reading skills in primary grades even after student demographic information and initial reading levels are controlled. The results provide additional evidence for the importance of early reading development, early intervention, and preventing reading difficulties as early as possible in schooling.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

The extent to which Federal agencies may properly engage in information dissemination activities is currently an issue of debate within the public and private sectors. Related to this is the question of how Federal agencies should price their information products and services. These issues, although they involve information activities in many spheres, are discussed with specific reference to the policies and practices of the National Library of Medicine.     

Perceived Family Influences in Talent Development Among Artistically Talented Teenagers in Singapore

Though there have been quite a number of research studies focusing on how Singaporean families promote literacy and instill values of academic excellence inside the home, little has been written about how families nurture the gifts of teenagers talented in the arts in the Singaporean context. This article highlights how the family influences the talent development of teacher-nominated teenagers who are identified to be among the top in visual arts, dance, theater, music, and academics. Through in-depth interviews conducted with the 14 talented teenagers, the researcher highlights their family's involvement and interest in the arts, their parents' occupational backgrounds, as well as family values and activities that the young artists-in-training perceive to be influential in shaping the development of their artistic talents. Reflections on patterns of childrearing in the Asian context are likewise discussed.