A group of 75 adult distance learners in Nigeria was asked to identify their level of comprehension/assimilation while studying independently or in class as associated with 13 dispositional factors. Anger, hunger, sorrow, tiredness, illness, and emotional instability had negative effects. Sufficiency of rest was accorded the highest frequency. (SK)

A survey of 100 students enrolled in telecourses in the Annenberg/CPB Project found that time rather than distance was their major constraint. Interaction with faculty was more important than student interaction. More than half had computers at home but would be less inclined to take courses requiring use of computers in the workplace or campus…

Great Britain's Transport and General Workers Union, in conjunction with Surrey University, offers its members distance learning in the form of tutorials with monthly course meetings. The program enables members to consider the wider economic and political issues facing unions and to develop independent learning skills. (SK)

A study used multiple regression analysis to evaluate publisher pricing practices for a random sample of 439 scholarly journals. Holding cost factors constant, it was found that prices to United States college libraries are significantly higher for physical science journals and for those from commercial publishers, especially from Europe.…

The author of a previously published article reporting a study clarifies the relationship of his own work to that of research completed earlier. The study extended the investigation of specific classroom techniques and their effects on student learning. (MSE)

Predictive validity of preadmissions measures may be understated because of correctable defects in freshman year and cumulative high school grade point averages (GPAs). A study used item response theory (IRT) to develop a more reliable measure of performance and test it using Stanford University data. Results showed increased predictability.…

A study analyzed data from four national surveys of the American professoriate conducted between 1969 and 1988. To assess whether groups of institutions might be accumulating advantage relative to others, research activities were compared across five Carnegie institution types. An overall strengthening of research emphasis and other changes…

Data from 27 business-oriented journals over a 23-year period suggest that, as more females receive advanced degrees in business and enter college teaching, their publishing increases. The data also illustrate some changes in women's authorship roles and similarities and differences between female and male authors. (Author/MSE)

A study based on national data found that the average duration of doctoral study was related to departmental emphases on scholarly careers and the resources to implement those emphases. Patterns varied by general discipline area and by specific discipline, suggesting a need for detailed analysis by discipline. (Author/MSE)

A study of the influence of student aid awards and tuition charged on year-to-year persistence by college students in the high school class of 1980 shows persistence decisions in the early 1980s more responsive to aid than tuition increases, suggesting persistence might improve with increased need-based aid alongside tuition increases. (Author/MSE)

A causal model assesses the relative influence of individual attributes, institutional characteristics, contextual-work environment variables, and multiple measures of job satisfaction on faculty intentions to leave their current institutions. Factors considered include tenure status, age, institutional status, governance style, organizational…

The American College Testing Program's College Outcome Measures Project Objective test (COMP-O) and College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) scales for graduating college seniors were analyzed for joint factor structure at a large doctoral-granting institution. No common constructs were found in the two instruments. (Author/MSE)

Analysis of six reputational rankings of English departments since 1925 indicates most of the highest-ranking departments have been in private universities. There has been great stability in the highest-ranked departments during this period, with few entering or leaving the group. (Author/MSE)

A study using national data investigated extension of the social control theory of deviance to deviance from the four Mertonian norms of science among faculty in seven disciplines. Results suggest social control in the academic profession lies primarily in the community of the academic disciplines rather than with personal controls. (Author/MSE)

Using segregation indexes from economics and sociology and national data, the degree of gender segregation by discipline was assessed among college faculty. Results suggest segregation decreased modestly in the early 1970s but has declined little in recent years. Doctoral degree awards in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s indicate an overall increase.…