A case study of a survey of new students made at a postsecondary vocational-technical school illustrates several sampling problems, including sample size, target population definition, determination of research purposes, costs, error tolerance, accuracy, and interpretation of research results for use by policymakers. (RW)

Pure and applied mathematical research is discussed briefly. The author gives an example of mathematical research on functional differential equations that was motivated by a student error on a calculus examination. (MK)

This research note examines respondent-nonrespondent bias in a statewide population survey. The findings indicate general support for using master lists in the selection of respondents for participation in a large mail questionnaire survey. Two papers follow which react to this information. (Author/CT)

This study provides support for the hypothesized effect of leniency on the discriminant validity of grouped questionnaire items. It was found that controlling for leniency resulted in a slight decrement in convergent validity but that discriminant validity was substantially improved. Implications for questionnaire validity and further research are…

Focuses on the fundamental issues of criticism of participatory research: responses to the critique of traditional research; conceptual clarifications; the role of values; uses and misuses; and questions of class relationships. (SK)

Addresses the research issues raised in several Federal cases involving the Freedom of Information Act. Outlines implications for the possible abrogation of researchers' property rights to their data and the potential breach of the confidential researcher-subject relationship. (Author/APM)

Presents a critical analysis of Robert Alun Jones' methodology for seeking a sociological understanding of sociology's past by analyzing classic sociological works. Excerpts from the writings of Jones and other sociologists, both classical and contemporary, are included and criticized. (DB)

Criticizes the approach of sociologist Charles Camic toward understanding the history of sociology. Suggests that if sociologists are to understand earlier societies, they must understand thought patterns which prevailed in those societies and must produce a history of sociological thought which is genuinely historical. (DB)

Discusses problems associated with the use of three approaches (natal, behavioral, and subjective) to the measurement of ethnicity. Describes factors associated with a lack of ethnic identification and implications of the existence of "nonethnics" for research on ethnicity. (Author/BE)

Methodological problems associated with treatment research on cigarette smoking are explored, and possible solutions are discussed. The main problems considered are the selection and retention of subjects, the measurement of smoking, the design of treatment studies, and the interpretation and generalizability of experimental results. (Author)

Delineates sources of problematic methodology in research designed to relate measures of sex-role orientation to indices of psychological well-being. Procedures in sex-role research are examined in relation to orthogonal scales of sex-role orientation that provide independent measures of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. Directions for…

In a secondary analysis of the Abrams and Siegel evaluation of the Transcendental Meditation program at Folsom prison, experimental groups fared better than control groups, although the treatment explains only a small proportion of the variance. (Author)

Most research on educational policy making in Britain has depended on the case study approach. This article outlines the procedures, advantages, and theory of this approach and then discusses the problem of trying to generalize from case studies. (WD)

The decline of the psychometric paradigm for studying intelligence was due in part to its failure to meet four challenges. On the surface, users of the information-processing paradigms seem successfully to have met these challenges, but at a deeper level, the level of success is not so great. (Author/BW)

Surveys the state of writing research, research needed in the 1980s, and how teachers need to be involved in that research. (HTH)