Describes a study of reliability among coders of information for meta-analysis (a quantitative procedure for synthesizing data in primary research reports) of research on life satisfaction in American adults. Identifies sources and areas of disagreement among coders and discusses measures that can be used to enhance intercoder consistency.…

Identifies and describes stresses that the ethnographer experiences in the research setting. Suggests coping strategies for dealing with phenomena such as (1) data overload, (2) participant observation, (3) participation/intervention, (4) the researcher's need for acceptance, identity and reciprocity, (5) data presentation and distribution, and…

Wilson discusses ways in which educational research is rendered ineffective, stemming from distortion of the concepts of "education" and "research." Includes three commentaries: Harry Brighouse discusses factors impeding research, John White contests the definition of education, and Marian Sainsbury argues that educational…

Maintains that progress in understanding reading is impeded when researchers working from different perspectives adopt the assumption of paradigm incompatibility. Argues that this assumption is false, and that progress toward a comprehensive understanding of the reading process would be hastened if investigators from all perspectives agreed to a…

Argues that the meetings of the National Council of Teachers of English and the Conference on College Composition and Communication should focus on improving the literacy skills of students rather than promulgating superficial results of poorly conducted research. (RS)

Identifies some sources of theoretical confusion in the field of human development and some ways to think about this confusion. Calls for a reorientation of researchers' perspectives toward themselves and those whom they study. (PCB)

Two biographies of Sir Cyril Burt argue the case of Britain's most famous psychologist, accused of academic fraud relating to his studies of IQ and heredity. The verdict is unclear, but lessons abound for social science researchers, students, universities, and investigators of research fraud. Contains 62 references. (SV)

Research within and across cultures is depicted in four case studies: a black woman interviewing black women, Asian students in the United States interviewing people back home, an African professor and African businesswomen, and a cross-cultural team studying aging in a non-Western culture. Insider/outsider status of researchers is described in…

Emphasising the level of the observation of university configurations and the example of academic entrepreneurship, the author analyses the drivers of economic returns of public research in France. Based on the study of national public policy in this field since 1999 and a general survey of the paths of researchers-entrepreneurs, the article…

Of 460 two-year colleges responding to a national survey in 1973-74, 63 percent reported some kind of institutional research, but only 15 percent reported that their colleges routinely based important decisions on the results of this research. The most popular areas of research were students, student services, and institutional operations. Other…

Researchers sometimes use stepwise methods to eliminate variables from analyses when the variables do not appreciably improve the ability to explain or predict inferences about the importance of various predictor variables. It is argued that stepwise methods are usually not appropriate for these purposes for three reasons. First, some researchers…

A conflict between the author, engaged in doctoral research in a rural Kenyan community, and an older village woman is narrated. The author suggests that anthropologists must be sensitive to the way in which their own cultural perceptions influence their interpretations of women's behavior in other cultures. The Kenyan village is characterized by…

Research on refugees in the United States accentuates the normal problems of anthropological field work, such as blurred roles and role conflict, the degree of familiarity of the research environment, and cultural shifts made in changing environments. (MSE)

Linda Flower and John Hayes respond to Marilyn Cooper and Michael Holzman's "Talking About Protocols," pointing out errors in their understanding of protocol analysis and a study in which the data appear to contradict what Cooper and Holzman assume the researchers should see. Includes reply by Cooper and Holzman. (HTH)