Developments in lifelong learning and learner autonomy have given fresh impetus to the debate about learning without formal teaching. This paper concerns the educational relationship between learner and adviser in self-directed schemes. Two French self-directed language learning set-ups were observed, one situated at university level (Systeme…

When researcher and teacher are united in a common goal of increased understanding, it is a mutally dependent and mutually beneficial endeavour. This paper reports on the methodology used in a recent classroom investigation of teachers' expressed beliefs in which each of the two participating teachers was engaged as co-researcher involved in the…

Describes a positive method of studying children which gives insight into the differences between "privileged" and "underprivileged", and makes possible analysis of the development of a logical concept (number). Preschool children were observed as they interacted in a controlled group situation. (ED)

This paper proposes the use of interaction process analysis to study negotiation behaviors. Following a review of current literature in the field, the paper presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of both labor/management and social negotiation processes. Central to the framework described are two systems of activities that together…

Containing a methodological and conceptual critique of rules theory, this paper argues that rules theory cannot adequately explain enigmatic episodes because of its reliance on the practical syllogism and the concept of coordination. It proposes structural analysis as an alternative approach to analyzing and conceiving of enigmatic episodes. The…

This overview describes a system for measuring instructional and management parameters of teaching through a method of classroom observation in which live observers and video tapes record teacher and learner behavior (both verbal and nonverbal) and the social-political-physical characteristics of the setting. Presentation is in 3 sections: (1) the…

This paper presents arguments for greater use of sophisticated research strategies and statistical analyses of data in dealing with the real-life complexity of social interaction. Three possible procedures are proposed and illustrated in a study of interactions between mothers and their 8- to 18-month-old children. The first strategy is to…

J. B. Rotter's internal-external scale has been widely used as a measure of the degree to which an individual believes he can control the outcome of events. When a revised form of the Rotter scale was subjected to factor analysis, with Rotter's 29 forced-choice items presented as 58 statements to be evaluated along semantic differential scales,…

This publication attempts to summarize and paraphrase the views expressed by participants in a conference on organizational processes in education. Purpose of the conference was to recommend areas of basic field research in education that emphasize both traditional ethnographic procedures and the use and development of more controlled methods for…

This report discusses the importance of research on the ways in which educational institutions develop and adapt to their environments and examines three different approaches for conducting such research. Most of the report is organized into three major sections, each of which focuses on a different method of organizing and structuring research on…

The study examines emotional and cognitive processes associated with a response to provocation, using the "stream of consciousness" technique, as well as mood and attitude questionnaires. Physiological processes (heart rate, electrodermal responses, and blood pressure) and sex differences in a display of aggressive behavior are also…

The author attempts to determine whether or not dispositional variables involving feelings and attitudes concerning others are related to altruistic behavior and, if so, to examine their relationship to positive and negative affective arousal. (Author/RK)

Examines whether the use of a particular unit of interaction behavior enhances reliability in interaction analysis research. (Author)

Tests the assumption that the aspects of a group's behavior that lead to judgments of quality probably are equally important and assesses the theoretical import of a discovery indicating differences in the relative impact of different variables on perceptions of the quality of decision making discussions. (MH)

Of what importance are our impressions and perceptions of others? This empirical investigation suggests that social perceptions can and do exert powerful channeling effects on subsequent social interaction such that actual behavioral confirmation of these beliefs is produced. Outlines a theoretical account of the processes believed to underlie…