Graphics research history shows that some topics have been studied heavily while others have been almost entirely neglected. Furthermore, researchers have used many different methods of defining and measuring effects such as legibility and comprehension, and this, together with vagueness in reporting, makes it difficult to compare studies and draw…

The paper asserts that learning disabilities is a "cherished ailment" in that so little is definitively known about the condition or about effective treatment, and further, that school systems and practitioners benefit from the large numbers of students diagnosed as LD. It is suggested that the traditional view of LD precludes alternative…

Research suggests that when subjects are given a rule as to how to translate auditory or verbal information into images, the images have many common characteristics with cognitive representations derived from visual perceptions. This experiment examined the process of cognitive integration and the similarities and differences between how imagined…

The Research on the Improvement Process (RIP) Program of the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education has made the investigation of the change process in high schools their primary research priority for the 1980s. In this paper, the high school research endeavors of the RIP program are described, with special attention being given to…

Commonalities between the philosophical perspectives of Alfred Schatz, a European phenomenologist, and George Herbert Mead, the father of symbolic interactionism, are discussed, and the two men's potential significance in social science research is examined. Both men were concerned with the question of the nature of social action, believing that…

This paper suggests that considering fundamental issues in educational research may help researchers conceptualize more productive research methodologies for computer based instruction (CBI). Inconsistent findings and methodological shortcomings in media research, including CBI, raise the possibility that current research methodologies may be…

The questions raised in this article have to do with how to take due care of the subjectivity of the persons involved in a research project. My main point is that a researcher's self-reflection on ethical problems is inextricably a part of doing research in early childhood settings, if we want to create knowledge which is valid and takes care of…

Discusses the emergence of institutional research during the last decade and the need for an image for "potentiality of change" in higher education. Specifies steps in beginning and improving institutional research, and points to the crucial problem of developing priorities. The necessity of sustaining institutional support for projects is also…

In a pilot study of about 400 public high school students in Chicago, four innovative approaches are employed to deal with previous research problems arising from the study of juvenile delinquency: specific, proximal measures of social background, multiple indexes of delinquency, anonymous self-reports of delinquency incidence, and parametric…

Communication researchers should respond to the interface of theoretical views and empirical data; that is, they should "take stock" of their theoretical assumptions and ensure that the research they undertake adequately reflects those theoretical assumptions. This essay presents the rationale for stock taking in the communication discipline and…

The problem of spurious significance in multivariate exploratory research is discussed. When a very large number of statistical tests are performed, many tests will be significant on the basis of chance alone. To counter this problem, the use of two sign tests to analyze sets of results has been suggested; the chance expectation [CE test] assesses…

The group interview, or focused interview, was initially developed in the 1940's to meet certain problems growing out of communications research and propaganda analysis. Designed to determine the response of persons exposed to a situation previously analyzed by the investigator, it was discussed and exemplified as an applied social research…

The 11 papers that were read at the Pittsburgh conference on the theory and practice of beginning reading are examined in this document. The papers and the state of the art are reviewed under five topical divisions, including developmental and processing stages, the nature of codes, cognitive control in reading, individual differences, and program…

In this review of Donald A. Erickson's book, "Educational Organization and Administration," the author focuses on what Erickson calls a "paradigm shift" in research and in the conceptualizations that undergird research. Erickson argues that research should be concerned primarily with productivity in the educational system, and…

Classroom research is caught between lack of rigor and lack of richness. When multiple classrooms are used, and when the performance of different groups or levels of students is regarded as "repeated measures" (or split plots) and analyzed accordingly, much of the descriptive richness of the interactions may be regained. (Author)