Introduces this special issue on safe schools. Two articles concentrate on educational theory related to safe schools, and two articles discuss the analysis of data about school safety. The final three articles describe the activities of three safe-school programs. (SLD)

Reviews the literature and outlines a framework for performance measurement and evaluation within post-secondary continuing education. In the framework, performance measurement serves as ongoing data collection and decision support, placing outputs, outcomes, and ratios as performance indicators in a matrix. (SLD)

Case study research aims to explore and depict a setting with a view to advancing understanding. This note explores the dimensions of case study research in higher education, with special reference to geographical fieldwork. It explores Stake's three categories of case study research: intrinsic, instrumental and collective. It provides guidelines…

The Learning Styles school and the Approaches to Learning school represent two rather different perspectives on the interaction of students with a learning situation. This paper outlines the basic positions of the two schools, and then considers the extent to which it is possible to reconcile them. A possible framework for such a task by Riding (…

Communication scholars should be skilled in the use of focus groups in communication research and in interpreting the data this approach generates. The focus group is a discussion group that concentrates on a particular topic or topics and typically consists of eight to 12 participants. The group is facilitated by a moderator who follows a…

The author argues for an epidemiology data base (which looks at cognitive, aptitude, family condition, school condition, and personal characteristic variables) as a strategy for research with learning disabled (LD) adolescents and young adults. An operational definition, advantages, and problems of this type of research strategy are outlined. A…

Notes that major changes have occurred in the factors investigated and the data collection procedures employed in teacher effectiveness research and that the generalizability of significant findings continues to be limited by methodological and experimental design problems. (FL)

Existing data on illegal immigration in the U.S. is inadequate. The limited availability of macrodata on the size of the annual flows and of the accumulated stock of individuals as well as of microdata on their influence on selected labor markets has been used to forestall policy reform efforts. (Author/RDN)

Action research is disciplined inquiry to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. It is a method for improving practice in which one collects data to diagnose problems, searches for solutions, takes action, and monitors how well it works. Action research is characterized by groups of colleagues working together for systematic…

The "Condition of Education" is an annual statistical report about education in the United States. This review describes and comments on the publication's data selection data presentation, prose interpretation, and the quality of the statistics. Options for improving the publication are discussed. (BW)

Issues of reliability and validity in ethnographic design are compared to their counterparts in experimental design. Threats to the credibility of ethnographic research are summarized and categorized. Strategies intended to enhance credibility (study design, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of findings) are incorporated throughout…

Presents four articles exploring children's play: (1) "Play, Policy, and Practice: The Essential Connections" (Edgar Klugman, Sandra Waite-Stupiansky); (2) "What's New in Play Research?" (Doris Pronin Fromberg), including play processes and implications for practitioners; (3) "Observing Children's Play" (Margaret Cooney), describing benefits of…

Presents a brief survey of Open Archives Initiative (OAI) e-print repositories, and of services using metadata harvested from e-print repositories using the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting (OAI-PMH). Discusses several situations where metadata harvesting may be used to further improve the utility of e-print archives as a component of the…

Reviewed summative evaluations of public training programs in Canada, focusing on methodology and the future prospects for evaluation in Canada. Findings show that the evaluation of training programs is a complex exercise that requires a careful research strategy, including carefully designed data collection. Future evaluations may need to focus…

This article describes methodological strategies, decisions, and issues that emerge when conducting qualitative research. In particular, topics such as situating the research design, sampling considerations, data collection methods, and the analytic and interpretive process are explored. Examples from published research are provided to illustrate…