Researchers sometimes use stepwise methods to eliminate variables from analyses when the variables do not appreciably improve the ability to explain or predict inferences about the importance of various predictor variables. It is argued that stepwise methods are usually not appropriate for these purposes for three reasons. First, some researchers…

An explanation of the misuse of statistical significance testing and the true meaning of "significance" is offered. Literature about the criticism of current practices of researchers and publications is reviewed in the context of tests of significance. The problem under consideration occurs when researchers attempt to do more than just establish…

This brief paper considers the historical development of comparative education and consequent problems. It is argues that the origin of comparative education was found in the possibility of being both national and supranational in one's orientation to the study of education. This has led to confusion in what is being studied and the concepts used…

In his conceptualization of the developmental course of interpersonal understanding, Selman (1980) specifies a set of issues which are central to the concept. For each issue, he assumes that development proceeds through an ordered sequence of ontogenetic levels and that developmental progress has a high degree of inter-issue consistency. In…

A conflict between the author, engaged in doctoral research in a rural Kenyan community, and an older village woman is narrated. The author suggests that anthropologists must be sensitive to the way in which their own cultural perceptions influence their interpretations of women's behavior in other cultures. The Kenyan village is characterized by…

Age is often ranked as a significant variable in research studies concerned with the measurement of intellectual and linguistic capacities, including reading. In fact, age is often cited as the cause of a decline in performance on such tasks. However, determining the social, psycho-social, and physiological status of subjects and applying…

Recent years have been marked by a decline in the quantity and quality of small group research for four reasons: (1) the experimenter is an integral component of the system he or she is studying and thereby influences the findings, (2) layers of group process defy complete analysis, (3) small group research is reflexive, and (4) much of the…

Queries 'n Theories provides a parallel to the strong inference approach to scientific method--designing experiments, observing data, and theorizing. (Author)

This paper is part of a symposium focusing on the Safe School Study recently completed by the National Institute of Education. The symposium attempted to delineate the critical methodological problems arising from ethnographic research in the school setting on school violence and delinquency, and to report recent findings from studies using…

Presents a new approach for estimating missing observations together with the results of a Monte Carlo study of the relative strengths and weaknesses of this technique and three other available methods. These techniques are then examined with respect to their ability to use incomplete data to estimate the correlation matrix obtained using a full…

Describes some of the situations in which a psychologist is likely to violate the assumption of independent errors. A Monte-Carlo study of the effects of this violation is then described. (Author/RC)

Paper presented at the Merrill-Palmer Institute on Research and Training of Infant Development (Detroit, Mich., Feb. 15-17, 1968).

Based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to Yale University.