No significant differences in language skills, social maturity, or self-concept were found for 36 trainable mentally retarded (TMR) elementary students placed in a semi-integrated school environment and 36 TMR Ss in a nonintegrated setting. Concerns regarding assessment of TMR children were noted. (CL)

Discusses previous pictorial research and its limited potential, and describes function-based research approach, which attempts to make findings relevant by identifying potential picture functions in terms of contributions to instructional processes and procedures broadly applicable to various objectives and strategies. Relevance of this approach…

A procedure is proposed for determining whether correlations obtained between two measures justify the assumption that the measures are identical. It is intended especially for small samples. In the example, the performance scales of two intelligence tests were administered to 32 deaf adolescents. (GDC)

The author examined the prevalence of multiple operational definitions of outcome constructs and an estimate of the incidence of Type I error rates when univariate procedures were applied to multiple variables in educational psychology. Multiple operational definitions of constructs were advocated and wider use of multivariate analysis was…

Discusses assignments in discourse analysis and students' recurring methodological errors. (PD)

Measuring change when true experimental conditions do not exist is a difficult process. This article reviews the artifacts of change measurement in evaluations and quasi-experimental designs, delineates considerations in choosing a model to measure change under nonideal conditions, and suggests ways to organize models to facilitate selection.…

An examination of the technical and theoretical strengths and weaknesses of three British research studies on the effectiveness of selective and nonselective schooling shows that the reorganization of British schools has not produced the lowering of educational standards that politically motivated groups would like people to believe. (RM)

Twenty-nine steps necessary for data file preparation for secondary analysis are discussed. Data base characteristics and planned use vary the complexity of the preparation. Required techniques (file verification, sample verification, file merger, data aggregation, file modification, and variable controls) and seven associated pitfalls are defined…

Several evaluations of a major national reform of secondary schools in El Salvador emphasizing the adoption of an intensive educational television system were previously undertaken. They are used here to illustrate key issues and problems in the economics of education and their implications for future research and policymaking. (BW)

Discusses several definitions of protocols, methods of protocol collection and analysis, applications in current research, and the limitations of collecting protocols as a research method. (HOD)

To evaluate the Significant Other Elicitor, data were gathered by an administration of the Wisconsin Significant Other Battery and related instruments to 98 rural Illinois high school students and their significant others. (GW)

A theoretical analysis and a review of the uses of role playing and deception methods indicates that role playing methods are based on a more comprehensive and inclusive conceptualization of human behavior than are deception methods, and that role playing assumptions are better able to account for the empirical findings in research on the behavior…

Gleser and Lubin put forth a series of objections to Kalter, Marsden and Ericson's 1974 article on methods of controlling for response productivity. The latter contend that the Gleser and Lubin objections were either not to the point or biased on lack of attention and misunderstanding. (NG)

Presented are the results of a national poll of research directors to identify critical problems facing basic research today. Problems identified included the following: lack of continuous, stable funding; decline in the quality of research students; infringement of the freedom of inquiry; and decline in public confidence. (SL)

Concludes that we are changing from a society whose goals were basically economic to one whose goals are psychological, and consequently we cannot expect the economists or the demographers to tell us to what extent these goals are being met or under what conditions they are most likely to be fulfilled. (Author/AM)