Over the years, many different labels have been used to describe nontraditional students. This study examined whether terminology used in surveys could affect respondents' answers. Two forms of a questionnaire were designed and distributed randomly to college students. One form consistently employed the terms gay, lesbian, and bisexual while the…

Discusses the failure of art therapy, as a profession, to integrate feminism and gender issues into art therapy literature and research. Examines whether there are research methodologies that are less gender biased than others and which methods are best suited to art therapy. (SNR)

Identifies methodological challenges for understanding childhood aggression and gender. Considers definitions, contexts, and subtypes, as well as sampling and measures before moving on to research comparing the level of aggression shown by boys and girls. Notes that physical and social aggression may not have the same developmental origins;…

The increasing use of educational performance or outcome measurements for a range of policy purposes points to new procedures for adjusting data for population composition. The purposes include: program formulation, budget resource allocation, grant-in-aid designs, performance incentive payments, consumer information for school selection, and…

Offers evidence that experimental results may be distorted by subject nonnaivety and notes the need to eliminate such contamination, as well as means of assuring subject naivety. Tables and bibliography. (RW)

Examined male and female definitions of right and wrong in 15 boys, 15 girls, 15 men, and 15 women. Results demonstrated 3 different outcomes as result of varying the mode of investigating sex differences in appraising a moral dilemma. Concludes growth of moral judgment is elusive and can be pursued well only through a variety of research modes.…

This review of the literature addresses scientific and methodological concerns of research with children from various racial and ethnic backgrounds in the United States. It first identifies three major demographic trends: (1) the increasingly multiethnic and multilingual nature of American society; (2) the increasing number of children in poverty;…

Discusses shortcomings in research on child maltreatment, including a lack of sensitive differentiation across types of child maltreatment, and a lack of attention to differences resulting from perpetrator gender. Provides corrective recommendations and describes a new approach that enhances research sensitivity. (MM)

Traditional sex difference research ignores the impact of social forces on the research process. It characteristically interprets sex differences as female deficiencies, also emphasizing the view of sex differences as determined by personal characteristics rather than situational contexts. Since research is a social process with a potentially…

Summarizes data on developmental patterns in constructive play--play in which children use play materials to make something. Reviews knowledge about developmental correlates and effects of constructive play behavior and examines methodological and theoretical issues. (NH)

A study with Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong was used to develop the Chinese Sex-Role Inventory (CSRI). The CSRI was constructed following Bem's procedures in his creation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. (Author/ML)

Presents a detailed critical appraisal of the evidential support for the book's conclusions about sex differences. Criticisms cover data base quality, over-representation of younger age groups, problems of stereotypes, over-emphasis on the null hypothesis, and slippages in the evaluational sequence. (MS)

This study was designed to compare the toy/activity preferences of a group of young children, as measured by traditional procedures, with their spontaneous toy/activity choices as they occur during unstructured periods of free play. Participants in the study included fifty-seven 4-year-old children enrolled in three half-day nursery school…

Presents feminist criticisms of selected aspects of research methods in psychology. Reviews data relevant to sex bias in topic selection, subject selection and single-sex designs, operationalization of variables, testing for sex differences, and interpretation of results. Suggestions for achieving more "sex fair" research methods are discussed.…