The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory presents a primer for making educational decisions more systematic, containing a collection of (1) prescriptive guides for clarifying problems and objectives, (2) suggestions for identifying possible solutions, (3) criteria for judging solutions, (4) methods for measuring values, and (5) strategies for…

Professsional child care is a comprehensive service to children and families that supplements the care children receive from their families. Need for such care will vary quantitatively as a function of demographic characteristics of the family. Child care programs can and do vary in quality, but all must foster the development of the whole child.…

Defining organizational culture as the amalgam of beliefs, mythology, values, and rituals that, even more than its products, differentiates it from other organizations, this paper demonstrates its utility as a synthesizing focus on current ideas about communication in organizations. Modes of thought, dominant paradigms, perspectives on…

Noting that networks of relationships between individuals and groups form organization-wide patterns that provide both the structure and the means of sustaining an organization, this paper argues that a complete understanding of organizations requires a basic understanding of these networks. Following a brief discussion of the nature of…

This report, prepared by the Delinquency and School Environments Program of the Center for Social Organization of Schools, presents a set of standards for implementing Program Development Evaluation (PDE), a method for strengthening school organizational and research effectiveness. This report supplements an earlier account of the Program…

The empirical and critical traditions in mass communication inquiry are examined in this paper to determine if mass communication inquiry can provide a useful perspective on human communication. The paper first describes the development of interest in mass communication in the nineteenth century, then explains the empirical research tradition in…

Anthropology as an academic discipline in the United States experienced an explosive growth during the late 1960's and early 1970's, when the Woodstock generation embraced anthropology. However, interest in anthropology as a discipline declined in the late 1970's and early 1980's, when the new work-oriented generation held anthropologists at arms…

General data on suicide among the elderly are available but the trends and levels often have been either ignored or misrepresented. Available data indicate that despite declines, suicide rates in the United States remain highest in old age. Impediments to understanding elderly suicide occur due to omissions in available national data bases.…

This handbook on conducting research was written for school social workers and contains these articles: (1) "The School Social Work Practitioner and Research: An Overview" (Elizabeth Timberlake and Lewis Carr); (2) "Defining Empirically Based Practice" (Deborah Siegel); (3) "Future Research in School Social Work Services: An Update" (Christine…

Two types of operating principles thought to play an important role in early lexical development are discussed. The principles are those concerned with: (1) assignment of reference or meaning to words; and (2) formation and evolution of categories. Discussion also addresses related issues, such as the developmentally important relationship between…

This report summarizes the role of the U.S. Congress in relation to: (1) foreign policy; (2) defense policy; and (3) the War Powers Act of 1973. An overview of the growth of Congress' involvement and the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government in policy development in these areas since the 1950s is highlighted.…

Environmental influences can significantly affect (both positively and negatively) the developing child. Three ways in which the environment affects the developing organism are induction, facilitation, and maintenance. In the case of induction the presence or absence of specific stimuli totally determines whether or not a particular developmental…

To gain a greater understanding about how people comprehend a set of directions, a macro-level research approach is needed. Researchers must first decide on the domain of activity that is to be investigated. In our society instructions are used for building things from parts, disassembling things, determining the functional characteristics of…

Most often music radio stations use tip sheets and charts in selecting and scheduling music. To overcome the disadvantages of these methods, some radio stations have begun to use music call-out research. Data are obtained through theatre studies, shopping mall intercepts, mail surveys, telephone surveys, or through a combination of these…

Reactions to the "woman the gatherer" theory, introduced in the 1970's as an alternative to the "man the hunter" thesis in anthropology, have been to accept, ignore it, or combine it with the hunting theory. The "man the hunter" model stresses that primitive males hunted for meat and provided food and protection for their mates and children who…