The paper "Exploring Prosocial Behavior through Structured Philosophical Dialogue: A Quantitative Evaluation" ambitiously made the argument that a pedagogy grounded in dialogical inquiry as part of the Philosophy for Children program will positively affect incidents of bullying in schools. This response to the author's work includes a…

Effective approaches to assessment in the classroom have long been debated at national, regional and local levels. The Department for Education has embarked upon numerous curricular reforms that will have an impact upon the assessment arrangements for our current and future learners. However, many of these educational transformations impacting…

This special issue is dedicated to research that adopts the microgenetic method in order to investigate change as it is happening. In this commentary we reflect on the diversity of the articles included in this special issue, and examine how the findings from these articles relate to five critical features of change: path, rate, breadth,…

Two types of problems supposedly associated with the use of randomization tests for single-subject experiments have been discussed: the random introduction of treatments and the repeated alternation of treatments. Ways to reduce the adverse effects associated with these problems are presented. (See TM 505 799-800). (Author/JKS) (Author/JKS)

In this essay, the authors argue that linked-course learning communities serve students at nonresidential metropolitan public universities by increasing their academic achievement, reducing their attrition, and engaging them in the project of public education. They use a winter 2004 research project to argue that linked courses create supportive…

The sciences of nutrition and toxicology require deep methodological reexamination. (JD)

Problems associated with randomization tests in single- case experiments are discussed. This article follows a discussion of randomization tests in single case studies in the same issue of this journal. (See TM 505 799; 505 801).(Author/JKS)

The selection of subjects for research on learning disabilities is a function of contemporary notions about learning disabilities, the purpose of the study and level of knowledge about the topic, and practical constraints. Denigrations of the extant research database, along with unaffordable demands for subject selection and descriptions, threaten…

Special educators reading research articles are urged to pay attention to how subject populations of children with disabilities are selected and described. Researchers are urged to disregard educational "categories" of children and to select subjects who demonstrate the variable under study. (DB)

Modeling the process by which participants are selected into groups, rather than adjusting for preexisting group differences, provides the basis for several new approaches to the analysis of data from nonrandomized studies. Econometric approaches, the propensity scores approach, and the relative assignment variable approach to the modeling of…

Explains the characteristics and importance of random assignment in experimental research on education. Considers factors supporting causal inferences, the nature of "assignment units," differences between random sampling and random assignment, the characteristics of randomization tests, forms of random assignment, and effects of experimental…

The paper summarizes and presents counter arguments against positions claiming that randomized experiments in early childhood are unnecessary, impractical, or unethical. It is concluded that more frequent use of randomized experiments in early childhood special education would provide more effective program evaluation data for resource allocation…

Employed a developmental context to discuss the problem of assessing both quantitative and qualitative deficits in the behavioral profiles of various diagnostic subcategories of developmentally disabled children. Methods of appropriate matching of control groups are suggested to help delineate specific and general deficits in subgroups of…

Issues are raised about the Council for Learning Disabilities Research Committee's standards for describing research subjects, including justification for the recommended standards, relationship between description of subjects and probability of replication, and impact of the type of research on subject description standards. Recommendations are…

This article contends that educational researchers need to realize that the research process itself is an unregarded intervention beyond any intentional treatment effects or secondary effects on the research participants or other stakeholders. Implications are discussed for conducting and reporting experimental and qualitative research to increase…