There is a truism about applied research that an inadequate concept of change leads to diminished or misguided applied research. Hence this paper urges distinguishing kinds of change, distinctions which are suggested by experience and also are supported with evidence generated by exotic statistical and computational techniques in which we have been engaged. An immediate pay-off of making such distinctions is more definite reliance on existing research findings, whose interpretation is necessarily related to their underlying concept of change. More central still, the goal is to facilitate the design and evaluation of efforts to improve the human condition and the quality of life, especially in organizations. Initially, conceptual clarification of "change" will show that at least three kinds seem distinguishable. Later, data from a study of a "successful" Flexi-Time intervention will be used to test these conceptual clarifications. Detailed statistical analysis will support the broad position that a unitary concept of change is inappropriate and may be seriously misleading.
In this article factors such as education, employment characteristics, and association benefits which are associated with nurses joining and remaining in professional nursing associations are identified. The impact of these factors on association membership was determined through a survey of 225 nurses in one midwestern state. On the basis of these empirical results recommendations are made which should be useful to professional associations seeking to attract new members and keep their present ones.
Effects of response style on various commonly used fixed-response formats are examined. Data suggest that Likert-type formats are relatively consistently affected by response style regardless of the number of categories in the format. Non-anchored numbers were less affected by stylistic responses, while linear formats and various forms of human faces are the most problematic. Across types, strongest correlations were obtained for the various forms of linear formats and human faces making their use problematic.
Data for 4-, 5-, and 7-position Likert formats from 292 undergraduates showed systematic error varied among formats, i.e., central tendency errors tended to increase with increasing numbers of categories and to reduce variances expected.
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