Introductory comments to a special issue of the journal survey the papers selected for publication and challenge the research community to respond to criticisms of research on higher education. (Author/LB)

Higher education is facing pressures that prohibit valuable and illuminating research, including virtually no growth in the enterprise, lack of societal enthusiasm, competition among institutions, and stresses between faculty and administrators. Until these pressures are eased, improvements in higher education research will be minimal. (Author/LB)

Notes that finding appropriate, statistically sound means of collecting data is important step in developing research. Presents goal attainment scaling and semantic differential as two flexible, reliable, and valid data-collection methodologies useful for practitioners. Provides procedural instructions and examples for constructing each…

The author presents results of a survey of a random national sample of faculty members in 16 schools of allied health that solicited anonymously reported perceived research barriers. Frequently reported needs that inhibited research were additional personnel, research philosophy, funds, inservice education, information, and space. (Author/CH)

Knowledge, rooted in experience, requires forms for its representation. Forms of representation limit what we seek. As a result, socialization in method is a process that shapes what we can know and value. At base it is a political undertaking. Examines the effects of the politics of method on educational research. (Author/BJV)

Discusses the practice of listening to children read aloud as a method of improving reading skills. Demonstrates that the phenomenon is not a simple, fixed treatment to be assessed on limited dependent variables. Concludes that in current evaluations there is insufficient analysis of the practice to do justice to possible effects and to help…

Trade-offs are implicit in choosing a subjective or objective method for evaluating social programs. The differences between Bayesian and traditional statistics, decision and cost-benefit analysis, and anthropological and traditional case systems illustrate trade-offs in choosing methods because of limited resources. (SLD)

This paper critically reviews administrator work activity studies which follow the research of Henry Mintzberg. It discusses directions for future research using qualitative and quantitative methods and discourages research that relies solely on Mintzberg's structure. (Author/JAZ)

This paper points out the logical, theoretical, and statistical problems associated with the computation of the "pooled-within" correlation coefficient in partially segregated educational systems. (Author/LMO)

Existing research into correlations between college teaching and faculty research is criticized for its inadequacies. It is argued that institutions should not be either research institutions or teaching institutions, but that scholarship should be cultivated in all institutions and disciplines for the mutual support of research and teaching. (MSE)

A sample of education literature from four journals spanning ten years is reviewed to determine the extent to which race, social class, and gender tend to be treated as integrated issues. Little integration was found. The paper argues that attending only to one issue oversimplifies behavior analysis. (Author/JAZ)

This paper focuses on the discrepancy the authors personally experienced between the stated principles of social research and experience with several applied social research projects over the last 10 years. Three cases of applied social research are presented and critiqued, and two types of structural problems were found. (Author/LMO)

A school board member, pursuing literature findings on the relationship between classroom size and student achievement/quality instruction, discovers that data support "any hypotheses." The investigator concluded that educational research does not reflect actual student-teacher classroom interactions. (CJH)

Provides a point-by-point response to the questions raised in Pasnak's review (S0 515 248). Attention is called to design and measurement issues for future research. (Author/JDH)

University management is needed that is sensitive to the need for diversity; encourages autonomy among researchers; can communicate across the developing gap between management and researchers; and encourages both central, established research projects and more peripheral, exploratory ones. (Author/MSE)