The effects of tenure on police officer personality functioning

The study compared pre-employment and current MMPI/MMPI-2 Basic Scale scores of small- and mid-size city Texas municipal police officers to assess longitudinal personality change. Participants had at least five years continuous, “street level” police experience. Twenty-three veteran police officers from a mid-size city and 19 small-city police officers volunteered to participate. Pre-employment MMPI/MMPI-2 information was obtained from police department records. Current MMPI-2 data was collected in small group or individual administrations. Significant increases in K-corrected T-Scores occurred on Scale F and eight of the Basic Scales; L and K decreased significantly. Mean scores remained within the normal range. Mid-size city officers produced higher K and 5 scores than small-city officers. Authors' Note: We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Rick Bradstreet, Ph.D., and E. S. Collins, Chief of Police, in the data collection process. The results of this study were presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society in Denver, Colorado, in June 1999.     

Does Mode Matter For Modeling Political Choice? Evidence From the 2005 British Election Study

Harold D. Clarke and Marianne C. Stewart School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083 e-mail: hclarke{at}utdallas.edu e-mail: mstewart{at}utdallas.edu Paul Whiteley Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, England CO4 3SQ e-mail: whiteley{at}essex.ac.uk e-mail: sanders{at}essex.ac.uk (Corresponding author) Although political scientists have begun to investigate theproperties of Internet surveys, much remains to be learned aboutthe utility of the Internet mode for conducting major surveyresearch projects such as national election studies. This paperaddresses this topic by presenting the results of an extensivesurvey comparison experiment conducted as part of the 2005 BritishElection Study. Analyses show statistically significant, butgenerally small, differences in distributions of key explanatoryvariables in models of turnout and party choice. Estimatingmodel parameters reveals that there are few statistically significantdifferences between coefficients generated using the in-personand Internet data, and the relative explanatory power of rivalmodels is virtually identical for the two types of data. Ingeneral, the in-person and Internet data tell very similar storiesabout what matters for turnout and party preference in Britain.Determining if similar findings obtain in other countries shouldhave high priority on the research agenda for national electionstudies. Authors' note: We thank the U.K. Economics and Social ResearchCouncil (ESRC) and Gary Williams, Senior Science Manager atthe ESRC, for their generous support of, and interest in, thisproject. We also thank the editor and anonymous reviewers forhelpful comments and suggestions.     

Effectiveness of two technical assistance efforts in differing environments

Two privately sponsored international technical assistance programmes were studied. The programmes placed well‐trained young men in staff and middle management positions in overseas organizations involved in economic development work. Although the two programmes were very similar, the first was successful and the second was far less so. The differing outcomes are interpreted in terms of (1) the greater need in the first environment for the type of assistance offered, (2) the greater difficulties of screening‐out unpromising work opportunities in the second environment, and (3) the different conditions associated with role development in the two environments. The first factor is seen as the most fundamental and as a contributor to the others. The major implication from this analysis is the need for emphasis on the processes of designing appropriate programmes for specific environments, rather than emphasis on specific ‘successful’ programme designs.     

The draw a person test and young state hospital patients

Because of the increasing number of adolescents being admitted to state hospitals, because of the continuing need for appropriate testing materials for these patients, and because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that the social factors of Ethnicity and Work Habits are significantly related to DAP test performance by male subjects, while Diagnosis is significantly related to DAP test performance by female subjects. A subject's performance on the MMPI and the Revised Beta Examination was not found to be significantly related to his performance on the DAP.Received B.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1967 and M.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.Received B.S. in psychoogy from Stephen F. Austin University in 1965, M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1967, and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Alabama in 1971. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation with emphasis on learning theory and cognitive development.Received B.A. in education and psychology from Baylor University in 1963, M.A. in education from Baylor University in 1967, and Ed.D. in educational psychology from Baylor University in 1970. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation.Received B. S. in mathematics from William and Mary University in 1960, M.S. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1962, and Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1967. Research interest is statistical methodologies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received A.S. in data processing from Date Junior College, Miami, Florida, in 1966, B.A. in mathematics from the University of South Florida in 1968, and M.S. in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. Research interest is statistcal methodolgies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received B.S. in psychology from Texas A & M University in 1970 and M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1971. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.