There are circumstances and threats that make it difficult to use the social sciences to help solve practical problems. For example, information that arrives too late will not be used. Yet, too late is not often defined. However, social and organizational psychology can be used to develop strategies to overcome these threats. (RM)

Discusses strategies to improve policy makers' utilization of research based on the "two-communities" theory that social scientists and policy makers live in two different worlds. Notes that for high level decision making, collaboration must involve more general problems and a decision to use either data-based or nonresearch knowledge for solving…

This paper suggests to those who have a genuine desire to effect change in higher education some ways of thinking and acting that they may find useful and urges further dialogue about strategy and approach to needed innovation generally. (Author)

Describes dilemmatic view of research process in which research is regarded as dilemmas to be lived with rather than problems to be solved. From this perspective, the proper starting place to discuss methodology is to lay out a series of choices, describe choices in terms of mutually incompatible goals involved, and discuss research strategies.…

The contribution that a philosophy department can make to a curriculum concerned with creative problem solving, particulary in the area of policy decisions, is discussed and exemplified by a course description. (Author/JH)

An undergraduate program, focusing on problem-solving and based on volunteer faculty, is developed to create a common undergraduate base for professional and action-oriented graduate education. (Author/JH)

An integration of "systems" and "synectic" approaches and an unconventional use of role-playing are salient features of the problem solving workshop, looking for fresh approaches to the improvement of undergraduate education. (JH)

What is needed is an exoteric university structure: one that closely aligns its organization and its practice to produce "Socially useful knowledge" and solutions to social problems. Such a university could combine elements of esoteric study with exoteric methods to achieve an integration of academic and "real" worlds. (Author)

The simulation scenario for a two-day problem-solving workshop proposes: "You have just been appointed to the Instructional Resources Laboratory Planning Committee Plan, organize, and operate the laboratory for two years." The purpose of this workshop was to bring fresh ideas to the problem of assisting faculty members to become better teachers.…

Presents a model that can be used by social scientists to formulate and test choice alternatives to select the most ethical course of action when values are in conflict. Graduate students in psychology, education, and medicine have used the model to recognize and resolve ethical problems. (RM)

Asserts that whether students engage in creative and critical thinking depends on how teachers structure the learning situation. Contends that using "academic controversy" among students provides a basis for deliberate discourse and creative problem solving. Presents a five-step instructional model to guide students. (CFR)

Social scientists need to cultivate awareness of values, their own and those embedded in research activities, and be responsive to the value system they encounter when doing organizational research. Discusses the sharing of ethical responsibility with organization members, elements of self-awareness and self-management, relationship management,…

Maintains that educational reform is related directly to issues of creativity and critical thinking. Contends that the creative dimension of thinking is fostered best by joining it with the critical dimension. Includes a figure and eight basic conditions implicit in creative, critical acts of the mind. (CFR)