We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of "Early Childhood Research Quarterly" devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start…

As this issue of the "Future of Children" makes clear, there is much yet to learn about military children and their families. A big part of the reason, write Anita Chandra and Andrew London, is the lack of sufficiently robust sources of data. Until more and better data are collected about military families, Chandra and London say, it…

Objective: Evidence is steadily accumulating that a preventable environmental hazard, child maltreatment, exerts causal influences on the development of long-standing patterns of antisocial behavior in humans. The relationship between child maltreatment and antisocial outcome, however, has never previously been tested in a large-scale study in…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a self-concept enhancement program on 4-year olds who attend nursery school. (Author)

Three investigations are reported which indicate that infants between 4 and 17 weeks of age are able to detect some differences in sounds upon which phonemic contrasts are based. (Authors)

Addresses the multivariate nature of research on minority children and families in Israel; offers an alternative framework for investigation. Applies ecological approach toward study of child development in an attempt to identify variables that influence the child and family at various levels of the ecological context. Discusses research methods…

This study evaluated the accuracy of automated methods of grammatical categorization ("tagging") of transcribed conversational language samples from 30 normally developing children. On a word-by-word basis, automated accuracy levels averaged 95.1%; accuracy of tagging whole utterances averaged 77.7%. Results suggest that further improvement of…

The objective of this book is to examine the methods used in basic research on child development. Studies of replications and near-replications of commonly employed procedures of data collection and analysis are used. Evidence of consistency in research results is sought, thereby enabling the authors to assess the methodological adequacy of using…

Suggests that testing developmental ordering hypotheses is difficult because rare use of ratio scales prevents direct comparison of measures. Demonstrates that the observed data pattern is constrained by the underlying relationship--although observed data pattern may not reflect the exact relationship, it limits possible relationships. Shows the…

Data gathered from three Papua New Guinea samples on a range of tasks derived from the theoretical positions of Piaget and Bruner were analyzed at the level of individual language/culture groups. (Editor)

Suggests that recent social changes and trends make it imperative to include demographics of all kinds in research on child development. Proposes guidelines to help child development researchers procure demographic information from their study population. Provides specific questions that may help researchers devise demographic indicators, and…

Comments on the ideas presented by Entwisle and Astone in this issue. Suggests that to produce sound measurements of children's socioeconomic background requires a substantial investment in coding, data collection, and management. Nevertheless, a standard set of racial-ethnic and socioeconomic variables, no matter how well measured, cannot serve…

Practical information is supplied that can be directly applied to early childhood projects and used for staff inservice in data collection procedures. This information assists in documenting the overall effectiveness of an approach and aids in making the frequent educational decisions to ensure the child is benefiting from instruction. Separate…

This manual provides guidelines, practical suggestions, and technical information for conducting a comprehensive child development needs survey, primarily at the county or multi-county level. Included are: (1) general guidelines, (2) a 37-item needs assessment survey form and (3) appendices concerning (a) sample selection, (b) interviewer…

Describes a variety of analytic tools available to address questions about development, including growth-curve methods, hierarchical regressions, and both primary and secondary data analysis of project and extant data. Demonstrates some of these techniques using extant data from two projects to examine questions about treatment efficacy and…