The 56 administrators whose programs or agencies were members of the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs were surveyed, with a 66 percent response rate. Their use of research in decision-making was assessed and was most often used to support budgetary requests to the legislatures. (LBH)

Synthesizes first comprehensive national effort to derive empirical data base for establishing rural education research priorities. Reports rating of 46 research questions prioritized into 13 themes by 461 rural education researchers/practitioners. Presents rank ordered themes including rural school effectiveness, governance/finance, staff…

An approach to higher education research that focuses on characteristics of and changes in the college student population in different countries and their effects on higher education is described and recommended. (MSE)

A review of higher education research trends in Denmark concludes that research is not channeled into specific areas but scattered over a broad range of topics, is mostly concerned with curriculum and instruction, and should be better documented for the benefit of future innovation and policymaking. (MSE)

Describes the highlights of the activities and papers presented at the conference including the following: an analysis of Chinese data processing systems and Chinese sentences, natural language processing, language lesson authoring systems, character recognition, and character input. Future work in the field may include studies on Chinese…

The growth of women's studies is an American higher education success story, but now scholars are confronting the questions and dilemmas that come with the field's maturity, including debate over the concept of gender and over the acceptance of white, middle class women as the universal standard of womanhood. (MSE)

Reviews the Congressional practice of specifying in spending bills campuses that are to receive funds for specific projects. Discusses how some academic institutions use lobbying to help achieve needed funding. Lists some of the projects that received earmarked funds since 1986. Presents several opinions on the subject. (CW)

Abstracts published during 1981-85 for special education doctoral dissertations (N=1581) were analyzed to examine the characteristics of the authors, subjects, methods, and outcomes of student research. Among the findings are identities of schools emerging as leaders for advanced special education programs and the lack of research on young…

A study of genre fiction classification used circulation data and a patron questionnaire to test whether physically separating fiction into categories will increase use; marking spines with category labels will increase use; use of classified fiction will increase with library size; and classification will increase the number of different books…

This critique of H. Lee Swanson's "Toward a Metatheory of Learning Disabilities" comments on Swanson's concept of learning disabilities, cognitive science, and information processing theory. A different research and theory-building agenda is proposed, focusing on society's definition of learning disabilities and instructional issues and…

Describes the indexing concept of entry terms, and evaluates existing terms in the Medical Subject Headings by comparing them to the results of an automatic indexer. The results of experimental testing of a strategy for creating entry terms using the algorithms of the automatic indexer are presented. (31 references) (CLB)

Research consumers, both individuals and groups, can benefit or lose from early intervention research endeavors, and their needs and priorities should be considered. Researchers' decisions and actions create consumer winners and losers in three areas of research activity: conceptualization of research, design of research studies, and dissemination…

Reviews literature dealing with perceived reality in the television effects process from a construct validation perspective. Topics discussed include variables that influence the degree to which individuals perceive reality in televised messages, relationships with attribute variables, influence of reality perception on viewers' behavior and…

Compares the expert, spiral, and reading approaches to instructional strategies for introductory computer programming courses. Based on ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) theory and relevant research, the differences between declarative and procedural instruction are identified, and six tactics used to design courses and evaluate strategies are…

Argues that studies of young children's cognitive, socioemotional, and physical development in group day care generally support the social realities of contemporary family life, including the need for developing high-quality professional infant and child care systems. (HOD)