Personality Testing in the Church of Scientology: \ud Implications for Outcome Research\ud

Many fields of modern society require scientific proof of effectiveness before new methods can be widely accepted, as in clinical trials for new drugs, educational evaluation for teaching approaches, and outcome studies for psychological interventions. Previous outcome studies on the results from Scientology services are reviewed and found to be inconclusive. The paper is devoted to the question of whether the existing data base of several thousand case histories could be used for outcome studies. The existing data contain personality test scores on the Oxford Capacity Analysis (OCA) administered before and after scientology services. A detailed analysis of the OCA demonstrates that it was derived from the Johnson Temperament Analysis (JTA), a psychological test of poorly documented validity, by paraphrasing its items, copying its scoring weights and transforming its test norms, with some alterations. It was concluded that the OCA is presently unsuitable for outcome studies, but that this situation could change if additional research could demonstrate that the OCA had validities comparable to other personality tests. For future use, it is recommended that an entirely new version of the OCA be constructed with completely original items, simplified scoring weights, and empirically derived norms, and that its validity and reliability be demonstrated prior to implementation.Scientology, outcomes, OCA, Oxford Capacity Analysis, validatio

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

A bibliography of reports concerning the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is presented. Cosmic evolution, space communication, and technological advances are discussed along with search strategies and search systems

Biogeochemical ecology of six species of Sphagnum in Costa Rica

There is very little information on the biogeochemical ecology of Sphagnum species in tropical regions. The majority of the ecological information on Sphagnum species in the tropics consists of general habitat information and pH values that are reported in new species descriptions and regional floras such as those of Crum (1980, 1989), Crum and Buck (1988), Karlin (1991), and McQueen (1989)

Compensating Wage Differentials and the Duration of Wage Loss

Several reasons are offered why workers will receive larger compensating wage differentials for increases in the duration of wage losses than for increases in the probability of loss that produce the same expected loss. A formal model of occupational choice is developed that shows the extent to which the compensation for increased duration exceeds that for increased risk. Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data linked to industry data on injuries and unemployment, we find:1) Nearly all the compensating wage differential for losses due to workplace injuries is compensation for increases in the duration of loss; 2) Similarly, nearly all the compensation for losses due to cyclical unemployment is compensation for increases in duration, especially for increases in duration beyond the 26 weeks of unemployment that are usually compensated by unemployment insurance. The compensating differentials for risk of injury are larger for union than for nonunion workers, while those for cyclical unemployment are smaller for union workers.

Noise Level Zero and Other Tales From the Bronx

Wolfe reflects on his journey of teaching in various settings, teaching him what public education should and should not be. He compares his experiences at two public schools in the Bronx with very different approaches to public education