We would like to remind you of the upcoming Webcast on Friday, October 26 starting at 12:00 PM (EST) on the Relative Importance of Predictors with Regression Models. The presenter is Dr. James LeBreton from Purdue University. Bellow is the abstract for the class.

Abstract - The search for a meaningful index of the relative importance of predictors in multiple regression has been going on for over 40 years. This type of index is often desired when the regression is being used for theory-testing or explanatory purposes. Previous research has documented how most indexes of relative importance yield identical results when predictors are uncorrelated. Unfortunately, in the organizational sciences, predictors are seldom orthogonal and often are quite correlated with one another. In the current presentation I review several classic indexes of importance and remind viewers of their limitations. I then review two newer and much more promising ways of estimating importance: dominance analysis and relative weight analysis. These techniques are compared and contrasted before closing with some suggestions for organizational researchers.

Biography - James M. LeBreton is an Associate Professor in the I/O Psychology program at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. in 2002 from the University of Tennessee. His recent research focuses on the development and application of new statistics and research methodologies designed to improve the decisions made by organizational scholars. Current projects involve 1) statistical techniques for determining the relative importance of predictors in multiple regression models, 2) the development and evaluation of statistics designed to measure interrater agreement and reliability, and 3) statistical techniques for analyzing longitudinal and multilevel data. He also conducts research on the relationships between personality traits and behavior in organizations. Specifically, he is examining how aberrant personality traits (e.g., aggression, psychopathy) are related to behavior in organizations (e.g., test faking, counterproductive behavior, decision making, perceptions of corporate transgressions). His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Organizational Research Methods. He currently serves on the editorial board of Organizational Research Methods and was awarded the Best Reviewer of the Year Award for 2006 by that journal.

The background reading's references and PowerPoint slides are currently available. Only registered CARMA Website Users can access this information. Registered users can access the material by following the available information at http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/carma/AccessingWebcastReadingsAndSlidesasp or, after logging in to the CARMA Website User Area, by clicking on the link "Webcast Readings and PowerPoint Slides".

To make sure that you benefit the most from your membership during the live session, please TEST YOUR CONNECTION. In addition, the testing procedure is exactly the same as the process you will go through to connect to the live session. Since this is the first webcast of the year, it is always a good idea to practice the process before the webcast.

Instructions for testing you connection and for accessing the live sessions are available at http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/carma/WebcastConnection.asp . Again, we strongly recommend that you test your connection, even if you have used a computer as a viewing machine for RealPlayer videos before. Sometimes, without your knowledge, alterations may have been made to the network settings or to the machines. Once more, the procedure for the test is the same as the one for the live connection but for one detail. On step 8, instead of clicking on the "Watch Live Webcast" button, you will click on the "Test Webcast Connection" button to proceed to connect to the test video. If you can watch the video, you are ready to go. Regarding the live sessions, please, initiate your connection as soon as possible. The live signal will be available at 11:30 AM (EST).

We also would like to remind you that each organization is responsible for updating their viewing room information in our website before each live session. Any of the three membership contacts can update the viewing locations. This can be done through the "Update Program Registration" link at the CARMA Website User Area. After clicking on this link, click the 2007-2008 CARMA Consortium Webcast Program, and you will be taken to the "Update Registration" page. At the bottom of the page, just above the IP address form field, you will find a field that reads "Viewing Room". Enter the desired information in the available form field, and click on submit.

The viewing room information is available in two pages. The first link reads "Viewing Rooms at Current CARMA Consortium Webcast Member Organizations" and can be found at the CARMA Website home page. The direct link is http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/carma/ViewingRooms.asp . The other page where this information is available is at the "Current CARMA Consortium Webcast Members" page.

Please, update the viewing room information as soon as possible.

A last reminder. During the live sessions, attendants may send us questions which, after being screened by us, will be answered live by the presenter. Questions' senders remain anonymous. Don't wait until the last minute to send us your questions. Please do it throughout the lecture. Send questions to both [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]