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This paper suggests that now that science fiction has joined the educational establishment there is good reason to examine the uses of science fiction. It is further argued that if English teachers consider science fiction as a means rather than as an end, the teaching of science fiction will be improved and so will the more important tasks of teaching reading and writing. In conjunction with this philosophy, several science fiction anthologies are analyzed for their content and applicability to the task of teaching English, especially in the area of basic skills. (RB)

This paper discusses the history and effect of popular culture generally and of the adolescent formula novel specifically. Seven primary characteristics of art as popular culture are that the work is accessible, easy to understand, conventional in form, not shocking in content, expressive of common and appropriate values, relative to some element of immediate concern, and of a distinctive, recognizable shape. The formula for adolescent novels includes the following characteristics: (1) after the protagonist is introduced, the problem is dramatized by a brief episode; (2) some event destroys the precarious equilibrium of the protagonist and precipitates a crisis; (3) the protagonist reacts with increasing frustration and does not approach the solution to the problem; (4) just as a point of hopelessness seems to have been reached, an accident or the sudden intervention of a transcendent character brings illumination and insight to the protagonist; and (5) the problem is solved by the protagonist and appropriate action is taken. A brief synopsis and possible teaching approach are outlined for each of three adolescent formula novels: "Watership Down,""A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich," and "The Chocolate War." (TS)

This article contends that the relational aspects of minority ethnic group communication have not been given due attention and that an adequate explication of the concept of minoritarianism is necessary for the better understanding of minority group communication processes. The paper deals with the explication problem and presents the findings of a thematic content analysis of a black student publication to explain and illustrate the variables operative in minority ethnic group communications. (Author)

This paper suggests a sequence of requisite skills for the identification of main ideas including identifying the key words or topic of a sentence, identifying the key words or topic of a paragraph, identifying the topic sentence of a paragraph, recognizing an explicitly stated main idea of a paragraph, recalling an explicitly stated main idea, inferring the main idea of a paragraph not explicitly stated, recognizing the relationships among main ideas in related paragraphs of longer selections, and inferring an overall thesis statement or main idea of longer selections. A logical step-by-step procedure for teaching the main idea is outlined for elementary teachers, including teaching main idea skills and teaching main ideas of paragraphs. The four step procedure includes writing a brief statement identifying what each sentence says, identifying the one idea that all of the sentences discuss, writing the main idea in a complete sentence, and locating the sentence that states the main idea. Once the procedure has been mastered, the four steps can be applied equally to sentences, paragraphs, and longer selections. (TS)

Task analysis is a procedure having the purpose of identifying different kinds of performances which are outcomes of learning, in order to make possible the specification of optimal instructional conditions for each kind of outcome. Task analysis may be related to content analysis in two different ways: (1) it may be used to identify the probably intended outcomes of existing content; and (2) it may be employed to design effective instruction, and thus to determine instructional content. When used for the latter purpose, the distinction is important between content which has a purely mathemagenic function, and content which is itself to be learned. When the intended outcome is an intellectual skill, verbal propositions provide cues for retrieval and other learning processes. In contrast, when the intended outcome is information, verbal statements must be learned as propositions, so that they can later be recalled and stated by the learner. (Author/RC)

Photographs appearing in October 1-5, 1973, final editions of 16 major daily newspapers published in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. were analyzed for total number of pictures published, content category (breaking news, feature, or sports), placement (front page or inside), source (staff, Associated Press, United Press International), "people" or "non-people," sex of primary subject or subjects, and the race of the primary subject or subjects in each picture. Findings include an analysis of overall picture usage as well as city-by-city data. Overall picture usage is broken down by city, newspaper, and day for overall and for front-page-only pictures with detailed cross-tabulations according to content category. This methodology is employed in describing picture sources, "people v. non-people" pictures, and sex and race for "people" pictures only. Overall picture usage findings are then grouped by city to reveal similarities and differences among the six cities studied. Conclusions are drawn concerning the populations actually being served by the 16 major daily newspapers as reflected in their coverage assignments to staff photographers and their picture play. (Author/RB)

An emerging consensus is that investigations of media effects should focus on the most basic political function of the media. Attempting to move out of the usual modes of conceptualization and analysis, this paper concentrates on three major points: the reconceptualization of political knowledge to encompass the respondent's subjective interpretation of certain essential elements of any political problem--actors, proposals, and actor-proposal linkages; the reconceptualization of media use to take into account the messages discriminated by a respondent about a particular content area as opposed to the sheer exposure to media whether content laden or not; and the development of a methodology that allows the respondent to define problems which are within his or her realm of personal experience rather than that set a priori by the investigator. An important feature of this methodology, employed in the Toledo Political Affairs Study, is its applicability across a wide variety of topic areas. This study, which is described in detail, points up the need for content analysis of the mass media agenda in studies employing measures of message discrimination. (HOD)

The proposed project, mentioned in Vladimir Petric's articles "From Written Film History to Visual Film History," is a book intended as a teaching vehicle for college and university film courses and involving shot-by-shot analysis and evaluation of films as primary study material. Cinematic values are emphasized both because cinematic visual language was almost entirely developed and mastered during the silent film era and because considerable material already exists on contextual or thematic analysis of major films. The films chosen for screening exemplify the various styles of significant filmmakers and the schools to which they belong. Each film is studied analytically, focusing on the formal structure of the work. Material in the 16 chapters follows the technical and stylistic development of the medium, with the general approach being historical. Chapter topics range from the birth of cinema to the avant-garde of the 1920's. (JM)

To enhance knowledge of television content, a prosocial code was developed by watching a large number of potentially prosocial television programs and making notes on all the positive acts. The behaviors were classified into a workable number of categories. The prosocial code is largely verbal and contains seven categories which fall into two major groups, interpersonal and self-control. The level of prosocial content on network drama programs is low. Many of the instances which clearly fit the definitions in the code are very low-keyed and probably have little impact, in contrast to most of the aggressive and neutral programs, which constitute the largest part of commercial television drama. Prosocial behaviors are incidental to the main plot. Only on the relatively rare prosocial programs are prosocial behaviors a central theme and thus likely to have a significant effect on viewers. (SW)

A system for developing assessment-reteaching cycles referenced to instructional outcomes is projected to enhance the effectiveness of elementary school mathematics textbooks. Salient precycle and paracycle features of the system are outlined. Procedures and activities to set the stage for instructional cycling are described, such as: translating the substance of activities provided in a mathematics textbook into instructional outcomes and performance modes, partitioning serially listed outcomes into 20-25 units, and developing criterion exercises for selected outcomes and performance modes in each unit. (Author)

The purposes of this paper were to briefly define content analysis, to report the findings of a survey of dissertations using content analysis methodology in the field of youth media, to place these studies into a typological pattern, and to suggest needed content analysis research in media for youth. Eighty-nine studies selected from a total of 488 dissertations were classified as using content analysis methodology according to O. R. Holsti's definition. The study concludes that content analysis offers much to those interested in learning more about the characteristics of media intended for children and adolescents. (RB)

Based on previous research findings and original data from school children in grades 3-6, this study examines children's perceptions of reality in television as an intervening variable between exposure to the medium and the effect of television messages. The specific focus of the current research was to isolate and identify factors which have impact on a youngster's perception of the reality of television content, and to examine perceptions of content realism where the content judged varied in level of abstraction. The study examines the role of real-life experiences, interpersonal communication about television, and a set of social locators in explaining a child's perceptions of television. (Author)

This paper analyzes three sets of Soviet documents, some directed toward a domestic audience, some toward an English-speaking audience, and some toward Third World countries. It was hypothesized that references to the United States would, over time, reflect the lessening of tensions between the super powers, but that material directed toward Third World audiences would contain more hostile references to the U.S. then would English-language materials. The sample consisted of two weeks from "The Daily Review of the Soviet Press," published by Novosti; official Soviet translations of the principal May Day speeches from 1966 through 1972; and a constructed week of material from the "Daily Reports of the United States Broadcast Information Service." Hostile references in 1972 were less than half those of 1965, thus confirming the first hypothesis. But in an analysis of English and non-English broadcasts for 1972, it was noted that the non-English broadcasts contained far fewer neutral or favorable comments about the U. S., far more references to the U. S. as an imperialist power, and far more favorable comments about communism. (Author/SW)

Designed to investigate verbal aggression in State of the Union messages during times of war and peace, this study attempted to devise a method for quantitatively analyzing verbal aggression in public, political communication and to describe and explain the relationship of verbal aggression in State of the Union messages to the existence of war (wartime/non-wartime) and issues context (domestic/foreign). Results indicated that presidents tend to use more verbal aggression during wartime than non-wartime periods, that verbal aggression appears in greater proportion in foreign than domestic contexts during both wartime and non-wartime, that there is proportionally more verbal aggression in a foreign context during wartime than in a foreign context during non-wartime, and that verbal aggression in a domestic context does not appear to vary in proportion from wartime to non-wartime. (RB)

The poor quality of most university courses in film history is due to several factors, among them the fact that there is insufficient analytical documentation and direct cinematic illustration in existent written film histories. These histories examine films on a thematic level, offering noncinematic interpretation such as literary meaning, social significance, philosophical connotation, and the historical paraphernalia surrounding films. To partially resolve this problem, serious film research on classic films and specific cinematic styles should be undertaken, and archives of film classics should be established which allow repeated viewings of films and parts of films in the close structural analysis of sequences. In addition, a cinematic methodology including direct investigation of the formal strategy of certain groups of films should be permitted. A proposed project, the visual/analytical history of silent cinema, would involve films as primary study material, accompanied by shot-by-shot analysis and evaluation. (JM)

This investigation analyzes 16 current reading series in order to: (1) determine if sex stereotyping exists in reading materials for grades 1-10, (2) determine if a majority of the stories show one sex in a dominant role, (3) explore types of career roles shown for females and males, and (4) determine the number of different career roles depicted for females and males. A team of university students under the direction of a major professor addressed themselves to these questions by tabulating and analyzing 4,144 stories found in 16 reading series. The results indicate that 58 percent of the stories show males as major characters and 14 percent show females as major characters. The category of "other," which included stories that could not be assigned to either male or female designations, totaled 28 percent of the stories. The total number of different career roles depicted was 629. Males were assigned to 511 or 81 percent of these, with females assigned to 118 or 19 percent of the career roles shown. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of the mediational process of the press to discover how much and in what ways press reports of Agnew's speeches differed from his original speeches. Comparisons were made between the coverage produced by the press reports and manuscripts of Agnew's speeches in order to discover how much of the original speech remained in the press reports, what thematic content remained, and what stylistic content remained. In addition, democratic and republican newspapers were compared on these same three dimensions. Conclusions were that the newspaper reports of Agnew's speeches accurately reflected the themes, the style, and the emphasis of his original speeches; the opposition (democratic) newspapers generally contained longer, more thoroughly detailed reports with more direct quotations, more paraphrases, more prominent placements, and more often provided complete texts of Agnew's speeches than partisan (republican) newspapers; and Agnew's repeated charges that the liberal (democratic) press contained unfair, inaccurate, and distorted reports of his speeches were not supported. (Author/RB)

The study examined the quality of educational research published in the journals, with a focus on the following: (1) an evaluation of the quality of contemporary published research from the standpoint of sound research conduct and reporting as judged by experts, and (2) an examination of the relationship between assigned quality ratings and selected characteristics of research articles and participation experts. A stratified random sample of the 1971 educational research articles was selected and a sample of judges to rate the articles was selected via the membership directory of American Educational Research Association (AERA). The results of the study provide consumers of research with needed information regarding the soundness of the research whose findings influence present-day decision making. (Author)

This paper describes Rod McKuen's theories of poetic composition, arguing that McKuen appeals to the anti-intellectual, blindly sentimental capacities of the American public. A comparison of McKuen's work with the work of such poets as James Dickey, Robert Lowell, and Theodore Roethke is outlined in order to demonstrate to students the superficial aspects of McKuen's poetry. Several of McKuen's poems, including "They,""Heroes,""Plan," and "Lonesome Cities," are critically analyzed. (TS)

This document examines contextual variables and how they affect instructional processes and educational outcomes. One contextual variable which has not received enough attention is the curriculum-material package. Curriculum packages represent potential experimental treatments. Possible research questions are whether these materials and instructions are suitable, whether they are used properly, and whether the outcomes are the ones which are expected. Once the effectiveness of a curriculum package is analyzed, the next research step is to assess the content and how it affects curriculum results. Research to date indicates that different curriculums produce different patterns of achievement and that these patterns are strongly influenced by the content emphasized in the curriculum. Further research into this area might study the influence of content, time available for instruction, student attention to task, opportunity to learn, and teacher emphasis on student achievement. (Author/DE)

In order to test the hypothesis that dogmatism is related to the understanding and appreciation of editorial satires, 116 University of Georgia speech students read and reacted to three editorial satires (two by Art Hoppe and one by Art Buchwald) arranged in booklets in three different orders. Students were asked to choose from a list of five statements following each satire the one which stated the thesis intended by the writer. Students also rated each satire on a semantic-differential type scale ranging from "extremely funny" to "extremely unfunny." The last two pages of each booklet contained a short form dogmatism scale. Analysis of data showed that (1) ability to perceive correct theses of satires differing in subject matter seems to be related to low dogmatism, (2) dogmatism might interact with the topic of a satire in determining ability to perceive satirical intent, and (3) appreciation--humor ratings--of satires seems to result from an interaction of dogmatism and satirical topic. (Tables of findings and a list of references are included.) (JM)

The purpose of this study was to determine the various ways in which audience members recall and quantify messages coming through the different media. The data presented here were collected during the course of a panel study into the social context of mass media use. The measurement and analytic techniques are exploratory. The respondents were adolescents, sampled from two midwestern cities on a geographic probability basis. The study was partially successful in utilizing multidimensional scaling to represent earlier chi-square analysis, and other dimensions and configurations for characterizing the media were discovered. The findings of the study are presented in both table and narrative form. (RB)

This paper discusses the research methodology used to determine the main dimensions of satisfaction-dissatisfaction (fertility values) associated with family size. A survey instrument was used to interview approximately 300 white women with none, one, two, or four children. Within the survey instrument, three different approaches were used to elicit the respondents' fertility values: (1) "why" questions which probe the motivational bases underlying answers to other structural questions, (2) an eight-part, open-ended question used to elicit fertility values for specific family sizes, and (3) a card-sorting task that measured respondent judgments on a pre-established list of potential fertility values. It was concluded that the administration of the three methods was worthwhile since the analysis of the data indicated each method produced some results in common as well as some unique results. The examination of the comparisons between methods, illustrated by three tables, include: (1) an outline of the fertility value coding scheme for content analysis, (2) the 10 top responses in each of the three approaches to revealing fertility values, and (3) a listing of the likes and dislikes of family sizes. Indications for future research are discussed. (SDH)

Recognizing that interest is essential to motivation, this study was designed both to identify and describe the content interest patterns and media preferences (print and television) of middle-grade children and to determine any relationship between these interests and sex, race, or socioeconomic status (SES). An inventory was administered to 250 boys and 282 girls in regular fourth and fifth grades of Hackensack, New Jersey, public schools. Each item was read aloud as students followed and responded first to a four point (3-2-1-0) like-dislike scale and then to media choices. Interest clusters were categorized under fantasy-comedy, informational, social empathy, recreational, excitement-fantastic, excitement-realistic, and artistic. Results showed that (1) social class, not race, affects children's content interests; (2) lower SES children, especially girls, prefer fantasy significantly more than do middle or higher SES children; (3) girls like to read more than do boys; (4) lower SES children like to watch television more than do middle or higher SES children; and (5) all children prefer watching to reading. (References and tables of findings are included.) (JM)

This article has two main theses: (1) Qualitative improvements in education will not come about as a result of rhetoric or superficial proposals for solutions made by the social-activist breed of educator, but rather as a result of a deeper understanding of the teaching-learning process, and the development and use of new and better principles of educational design. (2) Theoretical bases for qualitative improvements in educational design already exist and should be made more readily available to educational researchers. Among the problems considered are: content analysis, performance testing, "far" transfer, learning processes, developmental stages, and instructional methods. These problems are reviewed with respect to the theory of structural learning, and existing or potential theory-based resolutions of these problems are proposed. The paper is organized as follows: (1) a brief review of the recent history of educational psychology; (2) a partial list of open problems in educational design; (3) a summary of some of the more immediately relevant portions of the author's recent theory of structural learning; and (4) a discussion of how these open problems have, could, or might be resolved via the structural learning theory. (Author/CS)

A novel text analysis and characterization method involves the generation from text samples of sets of variable-length character strings. These sets are intermediate in number between the character set and the total number of words in a data base; their distribution is less disparate than those of either characters or words. The size of the sets of character strings (key-sets) can be varied arbitrarily by changing parameters. The characteristics of three scientific data bases (two disciplinary, one interdisciplinary) are compared in terms of key-sets of different sizes. Application of the key-sets for file compression, using a variable to fixed-length coding strategy, is discussed. (Author)

A seminar is described in which systematic observation techniques were applied to lecturer training to make the supervisory element in microteaching more objective. The system provided a highly structured technique that the lecturers could use to systematise their discussion of microlectures or real lectures, either recorded on tape or live. Three parameters were "observed": non-verbal, verbal, and content aspects of lecturing. These categories were used after the trainees learned the system and could reliably code a lecture into these components. This information was then used by the trainer and trainee as data in analyzing a lecture. A small scale study is reported in which the attitude of the trainees to each of four treatments (systematic observation vs. conventional feedback and audio vs. closed circuit television augmented feedback) was measured. No significant difference was found between groups. A discussion of the reliability and validity of the system is appended. (DAG)

Some 3,000 proposals submitted for Research Grants in Education and Small Grants, two of the major topic areas in the 1973 Field Initiated Studies (FIS) program of the National Institute of Education (NIE), are analyzed in this report to identify research features which seemed to receive priority emphasis and to describe some of the methodological features of these projects in order to focus questions about the potential for integrated, cumulative knowledge in education. The report contains selected characteristics of research from a considerably longer list in the original report which is the third in a related series of investigations in which the characteristics of federally funded social research are assessed. Objectives of the study for NIE were to develop an instrument to assess the methodological quality of the research component of proposals; describe the substantive issues of proposals; determine issues removed and retained at each step of the NIE review process; relate proposed characteristics of the research component; and assess systematic preferences in the NIE proposal review process in terms of the review process used by Minnesota Systems Research, which conducted the project. (Author/JH)

Six opinion magazines ("Christian Century,""Commonweal,""Christianity Today,""Nation,""National Review," and "New Republic") were analyzed for their treatment of legally recognized conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War era, 1964-72. The purpose of the study was to find how these journals reconciled their obligations under the social responsibility theory to represent fairly the viewpoints of an identifiable minority with their responsibility not to provide information about internal dissent to the nation's enemies. Conscientious objectors received substantial attention from four of these journals during the Vietnam era--24 editorials and 38 other articles. Amost all items conveyed a favorable bias toward objectors--46 were positive, 13 neutral, and 3 negative. Almost half the coverage was provided by one magazine, the "Christian Century," which supported not only traditional objectors, but also those who refused to fight on novel grounds. The thematic content of the editorials failed to support Siebert's hypothesis that "the enforcement of restraints increases as the stresses on the stability" of society increase. The evidence indicates that some editorialists exercised a great deal of freedom in defending minority opponents of United States policy during the Vietnam war. (Author/RB)

After reviewing the literature, the authors defined a two dimensional framework comprising formative evaluation activity as one dimension and source of information as the other. Four types of formative evaluation activity were identified and defined. Three primary sources of information-internal, external, and contextual-were identified for consideration as the evaluator engages in the following four types of formative evaluation activity. The first section reviews a number of approaches to formative evaluation in the predevelopmental stage including sampling, Q-sort and task analysis. In the second section techniques for the formative evaluation of objectives are discussed, including questionnaires and surveys, delphi technique, and content analysis of documents. The third section deals with techniques for formative interim evaluation which may include collecting internal information such as descriptive information and processing critical appraisals, as well as describing physical specifications of the product. The fourth section deals with formative product evaluation in which a version of the complete product is produced. Rather than being discrete, this stage is continuous with evaluation of interim stages of the product. (Author/RC)

This thematic analysis of Edward L. Godkin's editorials appearing in the "Nation" seeks to reveal the major themes on which he wrote and then, by quantitative analysis, to provide some order to the themes and to study the interaction of the themes. Five hundred and twelve editorials, written over a period of 35 years and representing one-third of the editorials Godkin wrote for the "Nation," were selected for this study. The factor analysis identified four strong sets of themes in Godkin editorials: affairs of foreign nations; corruption at local, state, and national levels of government--and civil services reform; American business, tariff, and fiscal policy; and American expansionism. Missing is strong presence of themes that marked a changing nation--urbanization, immigration, agriculture, the West, and race relations. Half of the editorials Godkin wrote commented in some form on the affairs of foreign nations. Godkin questioned morality in politics, in business, in religion, and in the press, but not in the plight of Negroes or the jingoism of the 1890s. (Author/RB)

Kenya's dozen or more newspapers and 50 news sheets edited and published by Africans in the turbulent 1945-52 preindependence period were condemned as irresponsible, inflammatory, antiwhite, and seditious by the Kenya colonial government, and this characterization has been accepted by many scholars and journalists, including Africans. There is substantial evidence to show that the newspapers and even the mimeographed news sheets continued to argue for redress of specific African grievances as well as for changes in social, economic, and political policies with responsible arguments and in moderate language up until the Emergency Declaration proscribed the African publications in October of 1952. This reassessment of Kenya's African press is based in part on examination of government records and interviews with some African journalists of the period under study. The primary sources are clippings and tear sheets from the African press collected by Kenya's Criminal Investigation Division. The material, along with comments by colonial officials at the time, shows that the African press of Kenya was by any reasonable standard responsible and moderate much of the time. (Author/RB)