This pamphlet describes ways in which parents and others interested in education can effectively evaluate the usefulness of educational research. Almost everything that happens in the schools is related to educational research. Parents and concerned others should appreciate its benefits, but should be aware that: not all research is done well or…

This monograph examines educational research and some of the myths surrounding it. The results of educational research strongly influence education. Much research, past and present, is biased. It is necessary to understand that race and sex bias can affect research, to understand how to determine whether bias is present, and to know how to…

The importance of research in literacy is that it provides some routes to greater efficiency in literacy provision. Research from the past shows how important reading and writing have been over the centuries. Literacy was often invested with social and moral power as well, and religious literacy was the predominant form of reading and writing from…

Several methods for determining priorities for research in agricultural education can be cited. These include the following: to rely on individual initiative, as has been done in the past; to get organized as a profession and reach agreement regarding research priorities at the national, regional, or state levels; to wait for federal and state…

The movement toward integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods within the same study has been most evident in social policy research. Four major approaches to integrating can be identified in recent studies. The sequential, the parallel, and the fused models have been rather widely used. The interactive model, developed during…

A review and evaluation were conducted of social science research that has been based upon the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) of Labor Market Experience. First, a comprehensive survey was undertaken of the labor market research that has used NLS data: (1) labor supply and the factors of female and male labor, child care and welfare, and…

Issues associated with the evaluation of 61 educational curriculum units, which was conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) are described. The units were adapted to the AIR Career Education Curriculum framework by creating 133 instructional units within which students could develop career skills in an orderly sequence. The…

Based on two years of research experience in Zambia, the author examines ethical and political implications of research inforeign countries. The economic and political reality is that richer, Western countries have the resources to do the research while the poorer countries have the information. Cooperative efforts could alleviate this situation,…

Considers perestroika's impact on educational research in Poland. Finds perestroika has allowed researchers to more fully explore crucial social/educational problems. Points out that government control of research funding could still have censoring effects. Advocates widespread media dissemination of research findings. (CH)

Asserts that government sponsored educational research has been seriously compromised by the introduction of restrictive conditions. These contractual conditions restrain researchers from discussing any aspect of the research, limiting all information dissemination to the sponsoring body. Contains examples of government suppression and…

The EERJ roundtable took as its point of departure the experience of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in carrying out policy research. CERI has conducted four reviews of national educational research and development (in New Zealand, England, Mexico and…

Nineteen articles on the status of the relationship among educational research, policy, and practice around the world are collected in the 1985 edition of the "World Yearbook of Education." Contributors address the development of national policies on educational research in countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and…

Canadian educators, researchers, and politicians gathered for a two-day conference in 1977 on the question of how educational research affects the formation of educational policy. The sixteen speakers analyzed the basic question from the points of view of the provincial politician, the school board chairman, the administrator, and the researcher,…

The need for a new function in education, that of the knowledge linker, is advanced. The need for a linker is explained in terms of a presumed gap between the researcher and the practitioner. The linker's suggested role in ascertaining the practitioner's needs and translating the researcher's findings is outlined. Various problems with the concept…

An intensive investigation analyzing and summarizing the scientific research and professional literature on reading interests of secondary school students was undertaken with the ultimate goal of assembling data which could be used to improve teaching and learning in the area of reading. Using an historical approach, considerable attention was…