Educators have expressed growing dissatisfaction with common practice in educational research. Discussed is whether or not research studies should be rationalized, empirical-analytic, interpretive, or subjective. In order to be useful, all research need not be rationalized and need not attempt to verify scientific theory. (CS)

Research on teacher evaluation and teacher effectiveness indicates that there are serious problems with the reliability of presage, process, and product findings. Quality in teaching can best be assessed by measuring process in the classroom and by using observation instruments which record the occurrence of specific, well-defined behaviors. (PP)

Meta-analysis of Title I program evaluations shows the norm-referenced model overestimates positive effectiveness; while the regression-discontinuity design underestimates it. Potential biases include residual regression artifacts, attrition and time-of-testing problems in the norm-referenced design, and assignment, measurement, and data…

Explores the issues of patient homogeneity, external validity, internal validity, choosing and implementing specific treatment modalities, therapist experience and attitudes, therapist age, reliability and validity of measures, and problems obtaining follow-up information when studying treatment of depressed elderly patients. (Author)

Reviews problems with early survey research methods. Recent studies are examined in terms of characteristics of the stimuli and contexts, and characteristics of the perceivers employed in them. Methodological and conceptual issues in these three categories are used to organize the body of research that exists. (Author)

Input-output research has made valuable contributions to our understanding of schools; however it does not provide reliable evidence concerning how school resources should be allocated. Two input-output studies described indicate that the intuitions of experienced school officials should be heeded by researchers when designing input-output…

Presents marketing as a form of comprehensive planning and considers its value. Stresses the difficulty of obtaining data about the external environment and the probability that external group demands will conflict among themselves and with legislative preferences. Questions the ability of colleges to expand in the face of fiscal restraints. (DD)

Criticizes James Coleman's study, "Public and Private Schools," and points out methodological weaknesses in sampling, testing, data reliability, and statistical methods. Questions assumptions which have led to conclusions justifying federal support, especially tuition tax credits, to private schools. Raises the issue of ethical standards…

Discusses research design errors including: (1) poor control over extraneous natural covariates of family type, particularly socioeconomic status; (2) unrepresentative samples; and (3) invalid dependent measures. Reports on conceptual blind spots, which include equation of conventional with healthy behavior and failure to anticipate either…

This paper poses a research question about how a person's work experience affects his or her earnings and shows how the Cumulative Experience Method (CEM) can provide an answer to the question using all available information in a longitudinal data set. (Author/GDC)

A Type VI error results from inconsistency between the researchers' question of interest and the statistical procedures employed to analyze the data. An example of a research problem is analyzed to show the increase in statistical power resulting from improved research design, using multiple regression instead of analysis of variance. (CTM)

Presents highlights from the Third International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect. The topic of child sexual abuse dominated the Congress; other topics included malnutrition, research problems, and concerns of Third World countries. Recommendations of the Congress are summarized.

The characteristics of needs assessment, in terms of social and health programs, are discussed, as well as misunderstandings, criticisms, and suggested changes in needs assessment activities. (MH)

This first of three articles in a symposium on the research effort of the International Association of the Evaluation of Educational Achievement is an historical portrait of the IEA studies providing insights concerning the methodological and political aspects of a large-scale, multinational research project. (Editor/SJL)

Argues that child socialization is directed toward the development of instrumental competencies related to imperatives that vary across cultures. Criticizes the use of White middle-class standards in developmental research and proposes a cultural ecological model which studies competence in the context of the cultural imperatives of a given…