Suchergebnisse

Nonrandom assignment to program and control group conditions can create serious difficulties for the evaluation of impacts of energy conservation programs. The particular analytic strategy that is appropriate depends on the character of the causal mechanisms associated with the nonrandom assignment. Guidlines for selection of the appropriate analytic techniques are presented and the analytical techniques described. It is recom mended that the possibility of performing a true experiment should be explored, beyond the use of random assignment to wait list and program conditions, in order to avoid the analytic complexities necessary in the nonrandom assignment designs.

The relationship between satisfaction with a residential energy audit and reported subsequent energy conservation behavior is investigated in a stratified random sample of 500 Illinois audit recipient. Results demonstrate a weak relationship between audit satisfaction and energy conservation behavior, a finding consistent with similar satisfac tion-behavior relationships studied in the literature of social and organizational psychology. Although impacts upon energy conservation behavior do not justify concern with participant satisfaction with energy conservation programs, other theoretical justifications for such concern are identified. It is concluded, therefore, that satisfaction should be measured as part of the comprehensive evaluation of an energy conservation program.

Person perception was studied experimentally to test certain predictions following from Rotenberg's theory concerning the effects of the Calvinist conception of Man on Western culture. Americans scored significantly higher than Israelis on a Protestant ethic scale. When American and Israeli subjects were asked to rate, on the basis of past information, the probabilities of a person being at present a mental patient ("damned') or a successful businessman ("elect'", Americans were consistently more deterministic in their interpersonal perceptions than Israelis. The hypothesis that in retrospective labeling increases in probability ratings of the outcomes, once a label has been assigned, will be greater among Americans than Israelis was not confirmed. Implications for future research are briefly discussed.