David Bauer

Children’s book preferences: Patterns, particulars, and possible implications

A sample of 315 third, fourth and fifth grade inner‐city and suburban children from Virginia and Ohio completed an open‐ended written survey about their “most favorite” book. Titles were categorized by literary genre. Chi‐square analyses were used to identify differences and patterns in grade level, gender and geographic/socio‐economic level. Relatively little overlap occurred with individual titles named but some genre patterns emerged. One trend (although not statistically significant) was a movement away from picture books and fantasy towards realistic fiction as the children moved up in grade level. Significant differences did emerge when gender was considered, with girls favoring realistic fiction and boys selecting fantasy titles. Further significant differences showed inner‐city children selecting fantasy and suburban children, realistic fiction. Title choices for these groups revealed more classic, award‐winning titles for the suburban sample and popular series or media‐linked choices for the inne...

Asymptotic distribution of regression type estimators of parameters of stable laws

Asymptotic distributions of regression-type estimators for the parameters of stable distributions am obtained. The asymptotic normalized standard deviations of the estimators are computed for various values of the parameters and various choices of the number of points used in getting the regression estimates.

Educational Experience and Changes in Learning and Value Preferences

Education attempts to instill certain values, as well as knowledge and skills, in students. Yet, examination of value changes is infrequent, and the findings of existing studies are equivocal. This article reports on a study of value and learning preference changes in occupational therapy students. Two small groups of undergraduate and graduate students completed the Rokeach Value Survey, the Learning Preference Inventory, and an educational values inventory (developed by the first two authors) at the beginning of their professional education and again while on affiliation. Four other groups completed the instruments once: undergraduate and graduate students in the first semester of the professional program, and undergraduate and graduate students in the second semester. For the students who participated in the study twice, undergraduates were more likely than graduates to rearrange their value priorities, and changes were more likely to occur with educational values than Rokeach values. However, although individuals may have changed substantially, when subjects were treated as a group changes tended to be masked. Comparisons of first semester, second semester, and affiliating undergraduates and graduates revealed few differences among groups, although again, educational values differed more than Rokeach values. Because the study seems to suggest that individuals are affected in varying ways by their education, a major implication is that a methodology for examining the impact of professional education must account for initial differences in students.

INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION OF THE VALUES FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

Investigation of the perceptions of 57 conservative and 57 liberal undergraduate students using the Rokeach Value Survey and the Interpersonal Perception Method was undertaken. The results indicated disagreement between conservatives and liberals about the relative positions of the values Freedom and Equality in a rank order. Furthermore, both groups understand and are aware of each others position regarding the freedom value but are aware that they misunderstand each others position on the equality value.

Hobbies and hobby‐related reading: Exploring preferences, practices, and instructional possibilities

Abstract This exploratory study considers the relationship between hobbies and hobby‐related reading to evaluate a common instructional assumption about using hobbies as a basis for recommending reading. Hobby choices, types of hobby‐related reading, and family influences were examined through an 11 item questionnaire administered to 33 parent/child pairs. Patterns emerged supporting: (1) the potential for recommending authentic, non‐traditional hobby‐related reading materials in home and instructional settings and (2) the potential for tapping the positive influence that parents who engage in leisure‐time reading can exert on their children.

Men's and Women's Perceptions of Values and Subsequent Feelings of Understanding or Misunderstanding

The study concerned perception of values among men and women. Analysis of ranks for 50 men and 80 women indicated that women felt misunderstood by men on 12 of the 18 values while men felt misunderstood by women on 10 of the values reported.