Research in counseling has fallen far short of its goals. This is partly due to the inherent difficulty of doing research in counseling and partly due to attitudes toward research in counseling. The solution is not to relax the rigor but to show greater concern for sound research design. (Author)

Discusses principles of human development which are durable across changes in time, culture, and cohort. Analyzes the form these principles are likely to take, the limitations and strengths they are likely to display, and the process by which they are likely to be discovered. (Author/JMB)

Focuses on specific problems of being a female field researcher in relation to general methodological issues such as the establishment and maintenance of rapport and research relationships. Observations from twelve research studies are used to exemplify these problems. (Author/AM)

Two statistical characteristics of the Matching Familiar Figures test which produce methodological problems in reflection-impulsivity research are discussed. (BRT)

Discusses the difficulty of predicting wave structure of two phase gas-liquid flow in pipes. (SL)

Describes the National Science Foundation's (NSF) program designed to replace the Research Applied to National Needs (RANN) program. (SL)

The authors contend that the experimental psychology of mental retardation suffers from methatheoretical and methodological weaknesses, preeminently the failure to consider the ecology of mental retardation. (CL)

Attempting to characterize the research literature on schooling, this paper discusses six possible inquiry perspectives termed analytic, portrait, intentional, structural, societal, and narrative. These perspectives are then analyzed and related to forms of knowledge about educating children. While preferring the narrative approach, the article…

Surveyed college sophomores to compare survey administration by scanner and by computer. Response rate for the computer-surveyed group (N=125) was 29 percent; for the scanner-surveyed group (N=124), response rate was 49 percent. Computer respondents gave more varied responses and reacted more favorably to the instrument, suggesting strengths of…

Analyzed 151 behavioral-gerontological research studies published before 1984 and categorized the observation, assessment, or intervention studies. Found that: (1) many studies focused on institutionalized elderly; (2) less than 20 percent of studies focused on observation or assessment; and (3) intervention studies were often problematic. Results…

Presents a critical analysis of research explaining dropout in distance education, and suggests the direction of future studies needed to form new theories regarding dropout. Highlights include discussions of mediated communication, audio teleconferencing, and problems with current research methodology and conceptual models. (LRW)

Notes that problems of measurement in educational research are often addressed by using the terms validity and reliability. Discusses the meaning given to these terms and how they relate to the aims of the measurement process in educational research. (RKM)

Describes observation research conducted by the author in a state institution for the mentally retarded. Discusses the moral and ethical dilemmas that occurred when the author witnessed routine abuse to patients by the institution's attendants. (BSR)

Challenges the typical treatment of causal effects in longitudinal data, arguing that models should be conceptualized and tested in ways that directly reflect prior assumptions as to the trait- or state-like nature of the variables. Examples demonstrate that meaningful longitudinal studies of state variables can be conducted without assuming their…