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With the proliferation of new health programs, such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO's) and Professional Service Review Organizations (PSRO's), the task of evaluating the impact of such programs on the health delivery systems and on the health of the American people becomes more urgent. Thus far no experimental or quasi-experimental designs have been found that are both feasible and satisfactory. Some quasi-experimental designs, particularly interrupted time series, have been suggested as a possible solution to the problem. The strengths and weaknesses of this and other designs, as well as the statistical problems associated with them, are discussed. (Author)

THIS TEXT IS WRITTEN WITH CHINESE IDEOGRAPHS. FOR THE GLOSSARY TO THE TEXT SEE ED 010 341. (GC)

Forty normal children aged 3 and-one-half to 5 and-one-half were tested on the pronunciation of initial /-1/, /-r/, and /s-/ clusters in 120 words, occurring 36, 48, and 42 times, respectively; other phonemes in the cluster occurred from 6 to 18 times. Articulation errors of individual subjects were examined for evidence of (1) degree and type of consistency, including consistency in rate of error; (2) mispronunciation of a phoneme, unconditionally or in any cluster environment; (3) the articulatory feature changed in substitution errors, regardless of phoneme; and (4) the error made on a phoneme. Results showed that children typically made the same number of errors when retested on similar lists, but not on the same items. There was little evidence for consistency in making errors on particular phonemes or features. Few children mispronounced any phoneme more than 50 percent of the time; most missed a phoneme in initial or final position in a cluster only once. In the few instances in which children made more than one error on a phoneme, the error made was usually the same; that is, the subjects were consistent in the error made. Tables and references are included. (Author/VJ)

Differences in articulation error rates and error patterns as a function of five elicitation modes (picture, picture with pretraining, word repetition, sentence repetition, and nonsense word repetition) were examined. The same 15 words (or pictures representing them) were stimuli in four real word conditions; nonsense words were formed by recombining the vowels and final consonants of the real words. Subjects were 22 preschoolers, 8 kindergarteners, 10 first graders, and 24 college students. Each subject was tested in each mode with order of testing counterbalanced. Errors in initial consonants, initial consonant clusters, vowels, final consonants, and final consonant clusters were scored separately. Error rates and error patterns were similar for the four real word modes. The nonsense words showed an error rate three times higher than that of the real word modes and, in constrast with the real word modes, increased rather than decreased from initial to final position. The effect of test items which are effectively nonsense as well as additional considerations bearing on the choice of real word testing modes are also considered. Tables and references are included. (Author/VJ)

Generally, ratings have notoriously low inter-rater reliabilities. Because of differences in orientation, background, and expectations, ratings are seldom made from the same point of reference; thus, many types of error mask the true rating variance. Guilford's technique identified most types of constant error by analysis of variance and then eliminated by an adjustment technique. This, however, does not remove all possible errors; it only "cleans up" the ratings to the extent these known errors no longer contribute to the error variance. The technique, moreover, is not applicable where not all raters have ratings for all ratees on all traits. It is proposed that if the number of missing values is relatively small, one of several methods be used to estimate the missing data before an analysis of variance is performed. Depending on the validity of the statistical assumptions made in the estimation, these methods are capable of producing reasonable estimates for the missing data. Three possible methods are illustrated with data taken from Guilford's work. The accuracy of the methods is compared before performing the analysis of variance and making the required adjustments. Further, the inter-rater reliabilities of the adjusted data and of the unadjusted data are estimated, using the Spearman-Brown formula by analysis of variance. A comparison of the two reliability coefficients reflects the degree to which the adjustment has been useful. (Author)

A case study was made of comprehensive efforts to get young people to identify with the core ideals of the parental generation through youth organizations in Israel, where over 90% of the adolescents report an active involvement in one or more of three nationwide programs: youth movements, sponsored by political parties and the Scouts; the "Gadna" youth corps, sponsored jointly by the schools and the Ministry of Defense--a sort of high school R.O.T.C. with premilitary as well as national service goals; and beyond-school programs providing group work, skill training, education, and recreational services in community centers and in school buildings after hours. Large samples of youths and youth leaders were interviewed. Among the variables studies were recruitment, programming, resignation, leadership, and attitudes toward national service. Special attention was given to efforts to reach the poor and immigrants. It was found that the overwhelming mood of Israeli youth is not alienation but identification with their country's past, its complex present, and its need for development. The organizations designed to reinforce these attitudes rely more on cooperation than on adult direction. Their peer-group oriented programs, emphasizing individual self-development and national service, provide adolescents with opportunities to acquire status. (Included are historical details and discussion of the implications for nation building and for youth culture management.) (Author/JS)

Since visual discrimination is one of the factors involved in learning from instructional media, the present study was designed (1) to investigate the effects of hue contrast, illuminant intensity, brightness contrast, and viewing distance on the discrimination accuracy of those who see color normally and those who do not, and (2) to investigate the extent to which the discrimination accuracy of color deficients improves, as compared with that of color normals, as a function of brightness contrast. Color deficiencies of two types--deuternopia (green blindness) and protanopia (red blindness)--were represented by six children each in the experiment. With six color normals, they were paid to discriminate the orientation of the gap in chromatic rings presented on chromatic surrounds. The degrees of hue contrast in Part I of the study were 36, 72, 108, 144, and 180 on the Munsell Hue Circle. The illuminant intensities were 25, 50, 75, and 100 footcandles. Viewing distance was 3 meters. Brightness contrast in Part II of the study had four values between 30 and 80 percent. Illuminant intensity was 50 footcandles, and viewing distances were 5, 6, 7, and 8 meters. On the evidence of the study the recommendation is that a brightness contrast of 30 percent or more be provided in colored instructional materials. (MF)

For 4 months, 221 kindergarten children took part in a controlled experiment on the effects of teaching formal reading at the kindergarten level. Teachers involved in the study were judged comparable in efficiency and attitudes towards the children. The California Test of Mental Maturity Pre-primary Kindergarten 1 was administered to half of the children and the Lee Clark Reading Readiness Test was given to the other half. High IQ, low IQ, high readiness, and low readiness groups emerged. Children were randomly assigned to formal reading or readiness programs. At the end of the school year the children were given the California Reading Test and the School Attitude Inventory. The teachers filled out rating scales on each child's attitude towards school. Results of analysis of variance of the data imply that the two types of instruction operated uniformly on all four categories of subjects. Children in the formal reading program surpassed children in the readiness instruction program in reading skills. According to teachers' ratings, attitudes towards school and reading were a function of intelligence and reading readiness. However, on the pupil self-reporting scale, children in the readiness group had more favorable attitudes towards school. (MS)