Until the quantity, quality, and utility for policy development of research literature on rural education is improved, the potential for furthering the current national momentum of interest in rural education cannot be realized. Explanations for the limited research literature include a lack of appreciation for differences between rural and urban…

This study describes the problems of searching in professional journals for relevant articles on the subject of adult education evaluation. Seventy-three journals were identified as containing 337 appropriate articles when searching with 11 title words; 43 percent of the titles referred to human behavior change while 57 percent referred to program…

In September 1984, a Vocational Education Data System (VEDS) follow-up survey was conducted of all 5,267 students who had graduated from Massachusetts public community colleges in 1982-83. Of these graduates, 1,881 (35.7%) returned the survey, and 3,386 (64.3%) did not. A subsequent study was conducted to compare the characteristics of survey…

This document comprises a collection of workshop papers addressing the issues of doing research on the complex social and human problems faced in any community from an Asian American perspective. The following topics are discussed: (1) the nature of community research; (2) the pros and cons of pure basic and applied research; (3) the nature and…

Although some school districts conduct follow-up studies of their high school graduates, few have systematically used the information to improve their educational programs or to guide policymaking. Weaknesses of typical vocational education follow-up studies include the following: avoidance of comparisons with nonvocational students, failure to…

This paper describes four problems that may confront researchers interested in capturing and describing participant perspectives when the participants of interest are young children in early childhood education settings. Problems were identified with interview data collected in three studies conducted in separate preschool and kindergarten…

Designed as a formal response to the Report of the Task Group on Retention and Transfer (HE 014 825), by Gerald Kissler, which is sharply critical of the community college transfer program, this report examines issues related to the transfer of community college students to the University of California (UC) and the California State Universities…

This study was conducted to develop a process for identifying the effects of vocational education research and development projects and activities and to identify the effects of selected research projects on the vocational, technical, and adult education programs and students in Wisconsin. Technical and adult education faculty and staff who had…

The communication of research findings among collegiate institutional researchers is considered in relation to the contribution of qualitative language in general, and catastrophe theory in particular. The qualitative language of catastrophe theory may help reduce the arbitrariness of description, through identification of qualitative features…

Project AWARE (Assisting Women to Advance through Resources and Encouragement), under the auspices of the American Association of School Administrators and the Ford Foundation, conducted a survey in 1981 of the chief state school officers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data were collected on the sex, race, and ethnic background of…

A study examined the distribution, use, and impact of vocational education research and development (R&D) products developed with Federal monies during fiscal years 1981 and 1982. Distribution data for the study were obtained from responses to questionnaires from 22 of the 32 states with products accepted by the Educational Resources…

This exploration of the potential for gender-role stereotypes to interfere with the constructive integration of computers into elementary and secondary school classrooms suggests that gender-related differences in perceptions of abilities in mathematics and science are the precursors of similar perceptions regarding computer use. Literature…

Larger urban school districts are no longer hospitable to outside researchers wishing to use the schools' staff, students, and resources in research that frequently is either poorly designed or useless to the schools. However, the University of Texas Research and Development Center for Teacher Education has enjoyed a good working relationship with…

Severe methodological problems were encountered in an attempt to investigate the impact of Education Division programs on girls and women--and, in particular, to learn whether these programs have a differential impact by sex or by race/ethnicity. (The "Education Division" comprises the Office of Education, the National Institute of…

Most of the research on the assessment of the intelligence of Latinos in the United States appears to be based on some possibly erroneous or at least dubious assumptions. Among these are the following: (1) the assumption of bilinguality; (2) the assumption of equal proficiency in the English language; (3) the assumption of the equivalence of…