In this paper, I map important "messy" elements that I learned from my five-month small-scale research project, one that was designed around pivotal works on online social research. I used computers and the Internet with Minan, a young man living in Guinea, West Africa, in order to examine his perceptions surrounding the value of these…

Social science researchers and policy makers are not oriented toward supporting one another or sharing information that might be useful in solving social problems. Only recently have public funding agencies supported social science communication research; previously such funding came through private agencies. It seems likely that funds will…

Research on the peer relationship problems of learning disabled (LD) children is summarized, highlighting methodological shortcomings and drawing implications for social intervention. Noted are tendencies of LD children to be frequently off task, to have more negative interactions with teachers and peers, and to be conversationally less assertive.…

The communication activities and problems of Australian social scientists in research and publication are reported. The sample consisted of 52 social scientists from three universities in Sydney who were interviewed individually. Participants responded to questions concerning their research interests, how they kept abreast of development in their…

In the context of low fertility and Australia's ageing population, a national longitudinal telephone survey, "Negotiating the Life Course" (NLC), asks women about their childbearing intentions. This paper uses conversation analysis (CA) to examine interaction between an interviewer and respondents on one NLC question about the likelihood…

The authors offer some practical guidelines in four areas of rehabilitation research information dissemination: (1) filing and retrieval problems; (2) level and styles of writing, listing, abstracting, summarizing, and reconceptualizing; (3) profiling the average practitioner-consumers; and (4) leveling attitudinal barriers. Filing and retrieval…

This paper is a comment on the need for review and reanalysis of the accumulated research in social studies as a guide to future efforts to design useful and desirable social studies curricula. Several alternative models for social studies educators are noted. These serve as guides to possible directions for research. The problems of communication…

The following review focuses on specific problems in the area of rehabilitation research utilization, the proposed solutions to these problems, and some suggestions concerning the general directions that future research endeavors might take. (Author)

The paradox of the diffusion of innovations research is that in its efforts to find ways and means of breaking the communication constraint in Third World countries, it has generated many bottlenecks that cumulatively constitute the major constraint: lack of an efficient system for delivering adequate and reliable information, knowledge, and…

Special problems confront the researcher measuring the attitudes of young children who cannot readily make cognitive judgments associated with conventional psychometric scales, such as Likert scales. One measurement strategy, called the method of paired comparisons, can overcome these difficulties. The method is explained in this paper. A small…

In their attempts to further the adoption of productivity increasing ideas and practices by third world peasants, diffusion researchers have paid insufficient attention to the factors acting as constraints to their efforts. An examination of one of these constraints, the lack of an equitable system for delivering knowledge and skills to rural…

One reason the field of education research is so vague is that there is no specific methodology that belongs to such research. Policy makers and people who appropriate funds would get a clearer idea of what research can contribute to an understanding of schools, colleges, students, and teachers if the research community were clearer about what it…

Questionnaires submitted to 454 Pennsylvania teachers indicated that only a small percentage utilize teaching ideas gained directly from reading research. Poor communication between researchers and teachers can be attributed to the underlying purposes for research and the methods through which it is disseminated. The undertaking of research…

The state of information about research in communications is presently in chaos, and only careful systems analysis and publication of clearinghouse-type information can cure the jumble of project topics now under study in the field. The whole system of communications research requires meticulous monitoring, managing, continuous updating with…