Provides a critical overview of articles in this issue on field work in administration and policy. Focuses on three recurrent themes: field worker role; reciprocity (the repayment a fieldworker makes to his or her informants); and ethics. (KH)

Describes reasons for, and presents some solutions to, the growing lack of understanding between the United States and the countries of Western Europe. Calls for revision of the major premises that governed the American approach, in government and academia, toward European affairs in the past. (KH)

Financially, Japanese studies are relatively well-supported. But the quality of graduate students in the field is declining, and the quality of those who move on to government service is even worse. Additional employment opportunities for Japanese specialists in the private and not-for-profit sectors might be developed. (KH)

Compares the semantic processing skills of younger adults (mean age 25) and older adults (mean age 68). After reading a sentence, subjects performed a task in which responses did not depend on retention. Results provided no evidence for age-related changes, including those associated with access to implied information. (Author/RH)

Issues in studying pubertal events are examined, including whether puberty is best characterized as a social construction or a physical event, whether early adolescence is a transitional or distinct life period, life events associated with puberty, boundaries of early adolescence, and possible models for studying pubertal change. (Author/BW)

The adequacy of traditional effect size measures for research synthesis is challenged. Analogues to analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis for effect sizes are presented. The importance of tests for the consistency of effect sizes in interpreting results, and problems in obtaining well-specified models for meta-analysis are…

Presents an overview of the field of comparative librarianship, i.e., systematic analysis of library development, practices, or problems as they occur under different circumstances, most usually in different countries in context of relevant background factors. Highlights include definition, purposes, research methodology, problems, and possible…

A historical perspective of professional preparation of health educators for the conduct of research shows a movement toward higher quality research and training methods. Several major issues and problems related to school health education research are presented. A review of current training models indicates a need for methods appropriate in usual…

Researchers studying the educational uses of computers can learn from the mistakes of television research. They should: avoid asking whether computers teach better than other media; utilize holistic as well as standard experimental paradigms; and realize that when learners encounter a new medium, a wide range of usages and outcomes should be…

The relationship of minutes of reading instruction to the gains in reading performance for 3,374 elementary school children shows consistent positive findings between large- and small-group classroom instruction and reading gains. Some of the negative results for individualized instruction may be due to school assignment practices. (Author/MLF)

This critique of the previous article (TM 510 107) notes that the Graden survey is similar to previous surveys in many of its findings. It is argued that the survey results do have important implications for continuing education of school psychologists. (BW)

The literature on school vandalism is reviewed, emphasizing strategies found successful in reducing school vandalism. It is interpreted in terms of three ideological orientations: conservative, liberal, and radical. Action research approach, which continually assesses strategy effects on a specific school system, is recommended for future…

Examines how the autoregressive earnings model developed by Ashenfelter to evaluate job-training programs can produce badly biased estimates of the magnitude and temporal pattern of program effects. Finds that the decay in Ashenfelter's estimated training effect for men was produced by a time-varying bias in his model, and presents a new, more…

This work presents a methodological critique and secondary analysis of a large scale societal experiment, performed by Kellaghan, that studied the educational and psychological effects of the introduction of standardized achievement/ability testing in elementary schools in Ireland. (Author/PN)

Examines the state of educational policy analysis, discussing the field's history, conceptual approaches to policy, areas of policy that have been studied, and methodological issues. Concludes with speculation on the future of policy research. (MCG)