Offers five articles by Ronald J. Cook, Mary V. Burke, Thomas G. Gallagher, Marsha Levine and Denis P. Doyle, and Richard J. Murnane that react to part I of "The Catholic High School: A National Portrait," a study of the resources, programs, facilities, personnel, and policies of Catholic high schools. (DMM)

The negative judgment about computers reached by Siegfried and Fels in their article, "Teaching College Economics: A Survey" (Journal of Economic Literature, September 1979) is questioned. There are research questions in need of answers before economists reject the generally positive picture across disciplines of the efficacy of computer…

This study develops a three-stage model of the question-answering process and investigates several potential sources of extraneous variability. Discussion includes implications of findings concerning what it means to "use" library materials and services, adverbs used as response category labels, and subject's responses as predictors of…

The most commonly used method of collecting outcome data in health education programs is self-report, which produces a variety of measurement errors. A model is proposed to systematically identify major influences for accuracy of self-reported health behavior. Methodologic studies are described, and eight steps to increase accuracy are proposed.…

Prediction of success in a special program often guides program participant selection and treatment. If the statistical analysis used to develop such predictions is based on the special selectivity built into the program, the predictions can be misleading and the validation tests uninformative. Federal district court pretrial release data is used…

Describes the author's experiences as a researcher working with a second grade teacher to implement change in the literacy curriculum, arguing that educational researchers need to engage in collaborative pedagogy with classroom teachers to develop a "theory of use." (HTH)

Offers a critique of the final report of the Head Start Evaluation, Synthesis, and Utilization Project. Points raised include the following: studies considered by the report are not based on a representative sample of Head Start sites; findings are based on studies of both low and high quality; and evaluations do not offer the only rationale for…

A study of predictors of academic success among Nigerian students in two U.S. universities encountered the problem of too small a sample despite methodological precautions. It raised the question of whether it is possible to establish general placement recommendations applicable to foreign students in different institutions and from different…

Examined three methods which can be used to pool single-item-per-subject data collected in intensive time-series studies, determining if method of pooling has an effect on subsequent data analysis. Methods examined were based on simple averaging, difficulty weightings of averages, and the application of the Rasch logistic model. (JM)

Examined the impact of sex differences between interviewers and subjects on responses to a sensitive subject area--sex-role orientation--in telephone interviews. In support of hypothesis that respondents would react to their perceptions of interviewers' empathy, found that women gave significantly less traditional responses when interviewed by…

The computer is going to be a catalyst of deep and radical change in the educational system. New conceptual frameworks are needed for thinking about the learning process, and experimental methodologies need to be reexamined. Examples of computer impact in learning situations utilizing its interactive capabilities are presented. (BS)

Weiner's allegations of errors in testing his theory (presumed detrimental effects of investigating a restricted range of variables, use of expectancy changes as a mediating variable, and presumed inappropriateness of classroom performance as a dependent variable) are evaluated. Disconfirmation of Weiner's predictions occurs irrespective of…

The authors argue that continuing medical education (CME) research fails to prove its effectiveness in patient outcomes, that there is no theory from which to generate measurable hypotheses and that questionable methodology, dubious applicability, and misleading conclusions pervade CME research. (SK)

The need to attend to both methodological and social concerns is demonstrated in two examples: one where the unchecked effects of the social consequences of a methodologically rigorous research design invalidated the evaluation and a second where explicit trade-offs between methodological rigor and social costs enabled the evaluation to proceed.…

Discusses the Teaching Act Model and the very complex set of contexts that determines why each teacher does what she or he does and that makes the appropriateness and effectiveness of those decisions not completely determinable by observation alone. (HTH)