Although important progress has been made in educational evaluation during the past decade new problems believed to be more serious threaten the progress that has been made. These problems are said to be a mixture of logistics and politics and are in large part an outgrowth of the increasing pluralism of American society. (Author/AM)

Addressing the problems of cross-research analysis, two Federal Interagency Panels have recommended that researchers: 1) use more complete definitions of the variables used in their study; 2) be more precise in their descriptions of populations; and 3) insure that their methodology and research lends itself to a comparability review. (BJG)

Paper read at the Groves Conference on the Family, Boston, Massachusetts, 1968.

According to researchers Herriott and Gross in their book "The Dynamics of Planned Educational Change," educational innovations fail because administrators (1) fail to diagnose problems correctly, (2) fail to anticipate and resolve implementation problems, (3) adopt an "ad hoc" approach to educational innovation, (4) accept…

The arguments for and against Thomas Kuhn's paradigmatic thesis are presented in this paper as a means of discussing the appropriateness of Kuhn's thesis to the emerging composition discipline. Section one of the paper introduces the topic, noting how the term paradigm is used in composition to define a system of widely shared values, beliefs, and…

This volume is a collection of background papers and materials prepared for workshop participants engaged in empirical research on the topic of "informed consent with subjects of uncertain competence." The first three papers consider the minimum competence needed to consent to or refuse participation in research, including a…

To examine the nature of sex differences in children's speech during play, 10 boys and 10 girls in kindergarten were videotaped continuously during 10 minute dyadic play sessions involving non-sex-typed toys. Each child participated twice -- once with a same-sex peer and once with an opposite-sex peer. The videotapes were coded according to whom…

A basic survey was conducted to determine the need for educational services of adult Indians throughout the continental United States plus Alaska and Hawaii. The study involved three survey instruments: (1) a field interview administered to over 4,100 Indian adults; (2) a survey of state education association directors; and (3) a survey of Indian…

The effect of certain methodological changes on the fit of the Wyer subjective probability model and the effect of belief change on cognitive structure were investigated. Using syllogistically-related proposition sets of the form "A,""If A then B,""If not A then B,""B," it was found that certain…

Four papers discuss research exchanges between the United States and the USSR and East Europe. The first paper considers the evolution of perceptions of social scientists in these countries during the Cold War and Detente. The dominant view of American researchers during the Cold War was that the United States, as the most modern society, was the…

Research methodologies are "word-specific," that is, they assume frames of reference which do not include all of reality. They are like the "sets" in mathematics in which axioms apply only within certain realities. (Parallel lines do converge, for example, on the horizon; the geometric postulate that says they do not holds only for the set of a…

Community data concerning drug and alcohol usage patterns was assessed via a unique "personal delivery" system. The system, which can be used for collecting other community data produced a return rate of 45% and was very economical. This system largely overcomes the main drawback of the mailed questionnaire (low return rate) by (1) having…

The relationship between the values of society as reflected by the education system is considered with particular emphasis upon the difficulty faced by educators when social values are confused and ambiguous. It is pointed out that the primary task for schools is to produce literate citizens, able to read, write, manipulate symbols, and develop…

Perhaps due to misunderstandings of the nature of the research task in visual communication, findings of empirical research in that field have been highly inconsistent. Historically, there has been little serious systematic empirical investigation of visual communication. One difficulty is that it is not always possible to measure nonverbal…