The purposes of this study were to investigate the impact of the following factors on the decline of average SAT scores between 1952 and 1981: (1) changes in composition of population of the SAT takers after 1963, (2) aggregate technological and social changes related to the scores in the years following 1970, and (3) selected economic factors in the period 1952 through 1981. Two models were used to test the hypotheses of this study. The dependent variables of each model were the SAT Verbal and Math scores. The independent variables of the study were two intervention variables that represented changes following 1963 and after 1970. Also, three economic variables were subjected to principal component analysis. These were changes in unemployment, Consumer Price Index (CPI), and real Gross National Product (GNP). The results were two factors: (1) Economic Instability (combination of unemployment and CPI), and (2) Economic Growth. These two factors were used as independent variables in addition to the interventions of 1963 and 1970. The interaction of these variables were calculated. The Box-Jenkins technique was used to generate residuals which were white noise (free from the confounding of autoregression, moving average, and trend or stochastic drift). Finally, hierarchical multilinear regression technique was used to analyze the white noise data of the study.

This study was an examination of the Hawthorne Effect in a verbal learning situation in an educational setting. The Hawthorne Effect was defined as the facilitating effect(s) produced in experimental situations when the subjects of the experiment expect that they are the objects of special attention. The purpose of the study was to determine if contamination by the Hawthorne Effect existed in an educational setting. Comparisons were made between "experimentally inexperienced" subjects and "experimentally experienced" subjects at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The task was to learn a list of paired associate terms, and to show learning retention by immediate replication of those terms. The focus of the study was upon the expected differences in performance of the control and experimental groups produced as a result of an effort to persuade experimental subjects that they had "unique" characteristics which would cause them to be exceptionally proficient. The control groups were given the task by the course instructor in a usual classroom setting,as an example of a curriculum objective. Recommendations for further research were as follows: (1) the personality variables of the researcher and those of the subjects being tested should be thoroughly delineated; (2) sex differences in performance should be scrutinized further, since there were indications that females did react differently from males in the experimental situation; (3) other academic disciplines should be examined with respect to susceptibility to the Hawthorne Effect; and (4) other social settings should be examined with respect to the Hawthorne Effect contamination.