Secondary data analysis as a methodological approach is not without its critics. Indeed, three main objections to the use of secondary data analysis in social research stand out: first that because of the socially constructed nature of social data, the act of reducing it to a simple numeric form cannot fully encapsulate its complexity. Secondly,…

If students cannot express themselves in the language of the assessor, and if the assessor is not familiar with the cultural constraints within which students operate, it is difficult for the assessor to collect evidence of adequate performance. This article describes the assessment of three digital artefacts where the assessor strove to…

Children, Play, and Development, Fourth Edition, discusses the relationship of play to the physical, social, intellectual, and emotional growth of the child. Author Fergus P. Hughes focuses on the historical, sociocultural, and ethological context of play; the role of development in play; and the wide range of theories that provide a framework for…

As a white, working middle-class adult queer from the Southwest USA, my subjective relation to the Mexican (im)migrant, poor, working, straight adolescent boys in California participating in my study was tentative, politicized, controversial, and surveilled from both social and individual lenses. Our relationships were also mutually caring,…

Research findings on identification of factors associated with increasing response rates to mailed questionnaires are presented. Several tactics which have been used to effect a greater response rate are presented and explained. Physical factors, such as typed correspondence, have been shown to yield higher response rates than duplicated…

Researchers are urged to guard against presumption, and to focus on the issues gradually, as they emerge under observation. Naturalistic evaluation studies represent an interaction between a research viewpoint and a field activity. There is uniqueness to the research team's predilection, and uniqueness to the site. Progressive focusing requires…

Fourteen hundred faculty members in 50 departments were questioned to determine the amount of formal research done each year in the nine Wisconsin State Universities. Responses revealing research productivity by department, amount of research done in teaching-learning (educational), percentage of faculty that do not engage in research because of…

An equation, introduced by Goodman and Kruskal for obtaining a reliability measure of one item was expanded. This formula determines inter-rater reliability for a series of items across many subjects. The statistic that results is easily interpreted and in many ways is analogous to the conventional reliability for quantitative data. (Author/BJG)

To reduce confusion and controversy about the nature of self-care and its consequences for children, this commentary defines the self-care child as one between the ages of approximately six and 13 years who spends time at home alone or with a younger sibling on a periodic basis. (RH)

Advances arguments against defining self-care children exclusively in terms of elementary school students who are home alone or with a younger sibling after school. (RH)

Humorously suggests the discipline of adult education suffers from four ills: (1) Gogymania, (2) Mapomania, (3) Defnimania, and (4) Lexicophilia. Offers possible cures. (CH)

Praises the writing persona of syndicated columnist Mike Royko and speculates on how he might comment on the research related to reading. (HTH)

Indicates that Kemler raises a number of important issues needing resolution before the understanding of infant categorization is complete, but claims Kemler misunderstands both the goals of the Husaim and Cohen experiment and the extent to which the goals were met. (Author/RH)

This paper presents formulas that can be used to approach the problem of nonresponse in survey research. (Author/AL)

Survey research of high quality never ignores the problem of nonresponse. The most reputable professional journals are those that reject for publication survey research that ignores the problem of nonresponse, which makes nonrepresentativeness of returns, and, therefore, credibility of findings, uncertain at best and highly unlikely at worst.…