The Gatekeepers: A Multivariate Study of Accepted and Rejected Adult Education Research Conference Abstracts (1978-80)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This study, part of an emerging meta-research tradition in adult education, examined characteristics of and variables associated with the acceptance of abstracts submitted to the Adult Education Research Conference in 1978, 1979, and 1980. A 41-item instrument was used to assess "internal" characteristics concerned with the content, the research processes, and the "composition" of the Expert judges attested to the content validity of the instrument. For test-retest purposes, 97 abstracts were coded twice and 20 coded three times to yield a mean item stability-across-time coefficient of r = .68. Five judges coded nine randomly selected abstracts to establish inter-judge reliability. There was a high degree of agreement among judges and between the researcher and the judges. The instrument was used to code 329 accepted and rejected A.E.R.C. abstracts on 39 variables. To identify configurations of variables associated with acceptance, those with significant t-values were entered into discriminant function equations for each year. Variables associated with acceptance did not remain the same for each year. Judges appear to assign varying "weights" to each variable; no variable was significantly associated with acceptance in all three years. However, discriminant function equations consisting of internal variables successfully classified 81 percent of abstracts in 1978, 71 percent in 1979, and 78 percent in 1980. It appears that abstract characteristics and not extraneous variables are associated with acceptance. Judges however have considerable influence.