Discusses the prevalence of service learning, growing public support, definitions, quality standards, and salutary research evidence. Service learning positively influences students' personal and interpersonal development, lifestyle choices, appreciation for cultural diversity, sense of civic and social responsibility, motivation, attendance,…

Reviews previous studies that used the Internet for survey research, discusses new methodological issues and problems, and presents a case study that seeks possible solutions. Topics include biased samples and biased returns, access to the Internet, effect of self-selection, validity of respondents, Web browsers, authentication, log files, and…

Discusses areas of disagreement with Park and Green's assertion that legal and scientific assessments of the success of transracial adoptions follow a Eurocentric bias. Considers issues of limitations in adoption research, the need for research to support cases against transracial adoption, Africentrism, and models for assessing transracially…

Examines implications of having data on only the resident parent in child support analyses and in ignoring nonresident parents. Findings indicate that the characteristics of nonresident parents are central to understanding levels of child support, underscoring the need for data collection that includes resident and nonresident parents. (RJM)

Used a role-playing interview technique within a phenomenography framework to examine children's perceptions of their experience in three nursery schools. Results revealed that children conveyed several reasons for attending nursery class, mentioned specific activities they liked, and had specific dislikes related to aggressive behavior by other…

Responds to a critique by Mudford, Hogg, and Roberts (1997) that raised concerns about the observation code used in a longitudinal research project to assess emerging behavior state patterns in young children with disabilities. Concerns about the thoroughness of the reliability data collected by Mudford are discussed. (Author/CR)

Discusses several designs used in research, specifically in language treatment research. Randomized clinical trials are highlighted because of their designation as the gold standard for determining treatment efficacy in the medical community. A brief discussion of the Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Trials Research Group is…

Medical writing is virtually devoid of reference to the use of humor as a teaching aid. Research into the role of humor in medical teaching is made difficult by such matters as the complex nature of the perception of humor, by difficulties in contriving humor in controlled settings, and by difficulties in establishing outcome measures for humor…

Attempts to determine research problems in the field of social work and to interpret them as a characteristic of that field. Stresses the double burden of pedagogics: to provide practical moral foundations and to provide reliable descriptions. Considers topics of major concern in research and practice in social work. (DSK)

Addresses many of the statistical and epidemiological flaws identified in previous studies of campus student suicides. Analyses, based on longitudinal data covering 261 student suicides, reveal a significantly higher suicide risk for students 25 and over, although the overall student suicide rate is one half of the national rate. (RJM)

How social science theory and insight could be applied to understanding and resolving the issues surrounding misconduct in scientific research is discussed. Understanding why scientists break the norms of acceptable conduct may come when their survey responses are interpreted in the contexts of sociology and psychology. (SLD)

Claims that increasing numbers of children are growing up in stepfamilies. Discusses research concerns, specifically the context of step situations, comparison groups when studying stepfamilies, specific issues for consideration, and policy development. Claims that understanding how families manage change and supporting all families to provide…

Presents a series of arguments that emphasize the importance of comparatively evaluating psychotherapies with appropriate pharmacotherapy and pill placebo. The lack of a pill-placebo arm has rendered moot those studies that compared pharmacotherapy directly with psychotherapy because of the lack of an internal sample defining calibration with…

Discusses various brambles that ensnare educational researchers and their reports. Several identifiable problems include allowing methodology to drive research questions, stressing results over meaning and interpretation, disguising researchers' voice and identity, and paying too little attention to composition and style. Remedies are suggested.…

Investigates claims of superior white intelligence from an emerging race relations perspective that describes the symbolic labor used to construct a psychological and cultural self that legitimizes white privilege. Representations of the white self and other notions are critiqued, such as the construction of equality as the prerogative of whites…