The purpose of the present study is to investigate evidence of the validity of Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics Scale (SATS) scores and their relationship with scores from two other measures of attitudes toward statistics, the Attitude Toward Statistics Scale (ATS) and the Statistics Attitude Survey. The pre- and postcourse responses of 342 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in inferential statistics courses at a large midwestern university were analyzed. Internal consistency reliability estimates were greater than .90 for total scores and greater than .70 for subscale scores for all instruments. Regression analyses confirmed the importance of SATS subscale scores over and above demographic variables in a theoretical model predicting statistics course achievement. Factor analyses suggested that both the ATS and the SATS have two domains, which is contrary to the four-factor solution proposed by the developers of the SATS.
The present, study examined the influence of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth as perceived by students and teachers on teacher evaluation. Male and female instructors in the same department were matched on the level of course taught. A sample of 22 pairs of courses evaluated by 838 students was obtained. Twenty Instructional Improvement Questionnaire items that directly evaluate instructor performance were analyzed using a three-factor analysis of variance and the .0025 level of significance. No interactions between faculty sex, student, sex, and teacher warmth were found. When students rated their instructor's interest and warmth, teachers who wore warmer and primarily interested in students received higher ratings in teaching effectiveness. When teachers rated themselves on warmth and interest, self-ratings interacted with faculty sex. Generally, female teachers received higher effectiveness ratings than did male teachers when they considered themselves low in warmth or interested in course content. Male teachers who rated themselves high in warmth or primarily interested in students received higher ratings than did male teachers who rated themselves low in warmth or primarily interested in course content, respectively.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the violation of the assumption of independence when combining correlation coefficients in a meta-analysis. In this Monte Carlo simulation the following four parameters were used with the values specified: N-the sample size within a study (20, 50, 100), p-the number of predictors (1, 2, 3, 5), rho( i)-the population intercorrelation among predictors (0, .3, .7), rho( p)-the population correlation between predictors and criterion (0, .3, .7). When cnly one predictor was used or when the intercorrelation among predictors equaled zero, the assumption of independence was not violated. The assumption of independence was violated when more than one predictor with an intercorrelation exceeding zero were used. Therefore, rho( i) the index of nonindependence was the main parameter of interest. For both r's and Fisher's z's, the means, medians, and standard deviations showed no discernible change over levels of rho( i) or p, but the precision of estimation of the expected values improved as N increased. The 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals for both r's and Fisher's z's showed no change over levels of rho( i) or p, but the intervals narrowed as N increased.
This study assessed the influence of faculty sex and student sex in teacher evaluation. Twenty questions from the Instructional Improvement Questionnaire which directly evaluate instructor performance were analyzed using a two-factor analysis of variance. No interactions between faculty sex and student sex were found. Generally, there were no differences between the mean ratings given male and female faculty by male and female students. However, male instructors did receive higher ratings on "spoke understandably," while female instructors received higher ratings on "promptly returned homework and tests." In addition, female students rated instructors higher on "specified objectives of the course."1 Requests for reprints should be sent to Patricia B.
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