Attitudes toward computers: A study of post-secondary students in Singapore

Research has found that computer attitudes not only play an influential role in determining the extent to which students accept the computer as a learning tool but also future behaviours towards the computer such as using it for further study and vocational purposes. A sample of 183 post-secondary students was assessed for their computer attitudes using a Likert-type questionnaire with three subscales, Computer Importance, Computer Enjoyment, and Computer Anxiety. Additionally, the effects of gender and computer ownership at home were also examined. One-way MANOVA revealed no significant differences in computer attitudes by gender although male students reported more positive attitudes towards the computer than female students. Significant differences in computer attitudes were found between students who own computers at home and those who do not. Students who own a computer at home also reported a lower level of computer anxiety compared to those who do not.     

Liberal education and the criminal justice major

New perspectives on the impact of college on students, on linking general education, the major, electives and extra-classroom experiences toward the goal of “integrated learning,” and renewed emphasis on the importance of producing liberally educated college graduates, present opportunities for criminal justice educators to make their field a keystone in the architecture of a liberal education. In this essay, I argue that the multidisciplinary perspectives that characterize the field of criminal justice, as well as its core intellectual concerns, make criminal justice well-suited to serve as the infrastructure for a high-quality undergraduate liberal education program.     

When in Rome,Do as the Romans Do: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and American New Teachers' Compliance-Gaining Strategies

The exchange of information and of member preferences are two different avenues for social influence during group discussion with potentially differing implications. The goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of three factors proposed to influence the relative proportion of preference and reason statements during group problem-solving discussion. As hypothesized, groups beginning in consensus discussed relatively more preferences than groups beginning in disagreement. Contrary to expectation, judgmental and intellective tasks did not differ in proportions of preference and reason statements. Opposite of prediction, the opportunity to form a pre-discussion preference resulted in a smaller proportion of preference statements than the absence of this opportunity.     

The Desirability of Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis on Published Scales

This paper advances an argument in favor of conducting and reporting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) on existing and previously validated scales and reporting the findings of those analyses in published research. Previous evidence of scale validity does not necessarily ensure validity in subsequent uses. Instead, scale invariance is best viewed as an empirical question. The case is made that CFA facilitates rather than hinders cross-studies comparisons, and that replication is good scientific practice. Reporting the outcomes of CFA on existing scales provides useful information that facilities knowledge generation and can minimize costly scientific dead-ends.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Scale Validation in Communication Research

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is an under-used and often misunderstood statistical tool. CFA provides useful information about scale dimensionality and validity. This paper offers a brief and accessible introduction to the role of CFA in communication research. Some common issues with CFA including dimensionality and model fit are addressed. More frequent and informed use of CFA would likely improve the quality of measurement in quantitative communication research.     

Students’ perceptions of instructors’ socio‐communicative style and the influence on instructor credibility and situational motivation

This study investigated whether instructors with different socio‐communicative styles differed in their students’ perceptions of their credibility and their students’ Situationen motivation. Students (N = 260) completed a questionnaire on the class/instructor they had immediately before their current class. The questionnaire consisted of measures of assertiveness, responsiveness, credibility, and situational motivation. Instructors with the socio‐communicative style of competent were perceived highest in all three dimensions of credibility (expertise, character, and caring) and in students’ situational motivation. Instructors classified as noncompetent were perceived as lowest in caring and expertise, while instructors classified as aggressive were perceived as lowest in character. Additionally, situational motivation was positively correlated to all three dimensions of credibility. The results support the importance of instructors being able to display assertive and responsive communication behaviors.     

The Relationships Among Perfectionism,Communication Apprehension,and Temperament

This study investigated the relationships among perfectionism, communication apprehension (CA), and temperament. Perfectionism is a multidimensional construct that includes an adaptive factor (i.e., having high standards for oneself) and a maladaptive factor (i.e., being unable to feel accomplishment in reaching excessively high standards; Flett & Hewitt, 2002 Flett , G. L. , & Hewitt , P. L. ( 2002 ). Perfectionism and maladjustment: An overview of theoretical, definitional, and treatment issues . In G. L. Flett , & P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 5 – 32 ). Washington , D.C. : American Psychological Association .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Results revealed a negative relationship between adaptive perfectionism and CA, and a positive relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and CA. Furthermore, adaptive perfectionism was found to be positively related to extraversion and negatively related to neuroticism and psychoticism, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was found to be positively related to neuroticism and negatively related to extraversion.     

Chaos theory,informational needs,and natural disasters

This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the region's crisis communication and planning.