Discusses two types of studies that may strengthen the conceptual and theoretical basis of school-effectiveness research: foundational studies, aimed at resolving basic conceptual questions regarding the school-effectiveness construct; and fundamental studies, aimed at developing and testing of school-effectiveness theories available from the…

Reflects briefly on how the author chooses what research to do. Discusses specific communication research projects that arose from near-sighted, midrange, and far-sighted planning. (RS)

Documents the increased interest about collaboration in technical communication, identifies and categorizes research topics, notes an increasing interest in balancing quantitative and qualitative approaches, and poses a continuum as a way of organizing and characterizing research about collaboration in technical communication. Situates the…

In the current state of global flux, new frontiers have emerged for adult education: community education/action, peace education, popular education, consumer education, women's education, retraining, computer literacy, and population education, among others. (SK)

Suggests that much of communication scholarship has been message driven and that this dominant form of explaining what communication is or does is slowly being challenged by reflexive explanations, which see humans as cognitively autonomous beings, reflexive practitioners of communication with others, and morally responsible interveners in the…

Argues that the issue of difference is at the root of the problems in the field of communication. Maintains that it is how the differences that characterize human beings, their symbolic lives, and their symbolic products are treated that confounds the field. Discusses the methodological moves involved in locating something defined as difference.…

Discusses a survey of members of the Secondary Education Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Explains that respondents ranked certification and preparation of journalism teachers and advisers and the legal and ethical issues of the student press as the most important research topics. (SG)

Conceptual and methodological recommendations for enhancing research on the influences of college on students are offered, including isolating net college effects, studying the timing of change, estimating college effect sizes, examining direct and conditional effects, and the potential benefits of qualitative approaches. Areas for future inquiry…

Discusses problems with subject searches in online library catalogs and examines theoretical principles for the design of effective information retrieval systems. Probabilistic ranking methods are discussed, and an experimental online catalog called CHESHIRE is described. It is noted that CHESHIRE uses classification clustering, provides natural…

Nine strategies for agricultural education research are as follows: understand the discipline, have a focus, review priorities, develop a research program, build upon a sound theoretical base, engage in collaborative research, assign credit and responsibility, market findings, and evaluate the research program. (SK)

Discussion of the role of Boolean logic in the information retrieval process focuses on a study that investigated the optimization of search logic for the MEDLINE database. Measures of retrieval effectiveness are discussed, the relationship of weighting schema and the logical schema is considered, and further investigations are suggested. (17…

Discussion of the use of citation analysis and bibliometrics to study the organization of a subject literature focuses on an experiment in journal cocitation mapping in the field of economics. Results are compared with an earlier journal network study of economics journal literature, and future research is suggested. (16 references) (LRW)

Examined domestic role-sharing of dual-earner couples (N=20) with school-aged children. Found postponing parenting encouraged male attachment to father role and promoted women's efforts to relinquish full household management responsibility. Reevaluated linkage of educational attainment to husbands' housework with reference to potential birth…

Discusses uncertainty measurement in reference queries and proposes an optimal questioning strategy (OQS) to reduce uncertainty and to measure the amount of information contained in reference queries. Information exchange between librarians and patrons is discussed, distinctions between vagueness and ambiguity are explained, and an example using…

Examines issues in the controversy between constructivists and instructional systems design (ISD) that were raised in an earlier issue. Students' prior knowledge is discussed, the development of prepackaged instructional materials is considered, transfer of training and prior learning are discussed, and the need for greater attention to research…