Analyzed the consistency of debate judges' philosophy and ballot statements. Found that their debating philosophies accurately reflect the criteria they use to decide debates. (PD)

Historically black colleges and universities remain an important source for the undergraduate and law school educations of African-American lawyers and judges, but it is no longer the case that the majority of African American lawyers are educated at the historically black schools. (SLD)

Examined factors affecting the difficulty of verbal analogies in a psychometric examination by characterizing 104 analogies using 5 defined attributes. Both knowledge and process attributes were found to contribute to the difficulty of verbal analogies assessed by 10 judges. (SLD)

This article presents the French Child Protection system, which is managed by Child Welfare of the local authorities (Aide Sociale a l'Enfance) and by Judicial Juvenile Protection depending on the central government (Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse) Children's judges are involved in child protection. The majority of children in care live in…

A study investigated the content of individual forensic events ballots. In the study, 150 high school and 274 college ballots were randomly selected from 17 tournaments, and each comment on each ballot was evaluated and coded. Data indicated that the overwhelming majority of comments on high-school ballots (64.57%) were positive comments; 32.68%…

Understanding communication (of which individual events is a part) requires a triangle among theory-practice-criticism, and any missing component dramatically hinders understanding and ability. Students compete in, and judges judge, forensics to better enhance communication understanding and abilities. The process of oral interpretation requires a…

Intervention by judges in CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) debates is inappropriate: critics should not strive to impose their views on debates. It is important to consider the ramifications of judge intervention due to the recent increase in critics who impose their paradigm on the debate participants. Two very recent trends are…

The use of questions in oral interpretation may offer a number of opportunities for moving forensics away from the performance paradigm. As competition in all interpretation events begins to sound the same, judges are left with only one criteria for judging--performance. While this may be considered an important criteria, it limits the educational…

A study investigated student competitors' opinions of the practice of judges asking questions of competitors at the conclusion of speeches in the individual events competiton at forensic tournaments. Surveys were completed by 52 final round student competitors at a large midwestern university individual events invitational tournament. Results…

A common procedure for obtaining multiple readings (ratings) for a constructed response item, especially in high-stakes tests, is to have two readers read the papers independently, with a third reading if the results differ by more than one point. This necessitates a scoring rule that specifies how the ratings will be aggregated into a single item…

A pilot study analyzed oral interpretation ballots collected at two college forensics tournaments to determine the average number and classifications of comments on the ballots. A total of 1,737 comments from 304 ballots of oral interpretation events (prose, poetry, program, duo, and dramatic) were analyzed. Results indicated a mean of 5.71…

A rules-based approach to the problems of debate (such as that proposed by the American Debate Association) will fail to provide a solution to debate's ills and may only increase the problems. Debate's current problems have to do with debate performance, e.g., speaking rate, poor quality evidence, and irrational arguments. A solution to these…

The Supreme Court opinion's absolute authority and guaranteed admission to the legal canon make it a rhetorically unique genre, but nevertheless one that is illuminated through close analysis. On June 30, 1986, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, expressing a judgment that the Federal Constitution does not…

Noting that the skill of debate is essential in a free democratic society, this paper presents a rationale for the use of judging philosophy statements at all intercollegiate debate tournaments. The paper considers: the role of the debate critic; discussion of judging philosophy statements; and advantages to be gained through the use of…

Many topics have been discussed over the lifespan of CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) debate, but the topic of judge adaptation (debaters adapting to each judge) is consistently ignored. Lay judges normally do not comprehend the debate process. To many debaters, lay judges are the most difficult to adapt to. The biggest problem with…