This study determined whether experts in special education transition services perceived a need for a common theoretical model and core set of outcome variables for follow-along research at the state level, evaluated a model for use in follow-along studies, and suggested research questions to be measured in a common format across statewide…

A survey of respondents and nonrespondents to the Vocational Education Data System's follow-up survey of Massachusetts community college graduates was designed to measure response bias. The survey investigated employment patterns, wages, and degree of job relatedness. Results suggest original data was biased, if at all, toward underestimation, not…

Reviews the research literature on Writing to Read (WTR), a computer-based language arts program designed to help kindergarten and first grade students develop reading and writing skills. Limitations of the evaluation reports, research projects, and specialized applications of WTR are reviewed, and problems in research design and methodology are…

In France, the sociology of pupils has focused on studying inequalities related to teacher expectations. Greater proportions of working-class students in secondary schools and colleges have forced a change in researchers' perspectives. Pupils are now defined by how they, as individuals, make sense of their school experience. (Contains 22…

Briefly presents the results of a study comparing the responses of Asian Canadian students and European Canadian students for evidence of social responsibility bias. Using the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, the study found little evidence of bias. Discusses implications and weaknesses of the experiment. (MJP)

Over the last several decades, undergraduate history instruction has increasingly emphasized efforts to engage students in hands-on historical research. Texts that present students with sets of primary sources for analysis are now widely available. These texts strive to build students' research and analytical skills, and engage them in the…

Many topics in aging research address questions about group differences in prediction. Such questions can be viewed in terms of interaction or moderator effects, and use of appropriate methods to test these hypotheses are necessary to arrive at accurate conclusions about age differences. This article discusses the conceptual, methodological, and…

Recruiting schools and kids to participate in drug prevention evaluations is no longer, if it ever was, a "done deal." Since the mid-1980s, schools have been inundated with requirements for drug programs and requests to cooperate with program evaluations. As a consequence, both treatment and control schools are harder to find. In addition, many…

Scientific research that is conducted without the structure of a supporting scientific paradigm should be labeled pseudoscience in that such research is deceptive or false science. It is argued that much of the research in educational technology is pseudoscience, with the focus on learner control research. Learner control is the design feature of…

Conditions that foster and hinder participatory research are examined, using examples from one such research project aimed at dropout reduction undertaken with students in a "last chance" high school. The 13 student researchers sometimes used racial, gender, and social class differences to gain power and display undemocratic behavior within the…

A set of concerns related to home education that is infrequently studied, namely, the content and direction of research in education, is examined. Issues surrounding home education have not been given adequate attention. A sample of home education researchers was gathered by compiling a list of authors who had published in the "Home School…

The National Academy of Education (NAE) Panel has drawn two major conclusions in its evaluation of the National Assessment Governing Board's (NAGB) efforts to set achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). They are that the Angoff procedure is fundamentally flawed for the setting of achievement levels, and that…

This conference proceedings document serves to establish the state of the art, highlight important methodological and conceptual issues, and identify priorities for future research in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. The document includes the papers from two opening presentations, issue papers and reactant papers, a…

To determine the factors that influence interpretation of a research study description, 8 descriptions of research studies were interpreted by 320 undergraduate students in psychology, mathematics, and economics statistics and research methods classes at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), Millersville University (Pennsylvania),…

The purpose of this study was to improve both statistical and judgmental methods for detecting potentially biased test items in an attempt to examine the agreement between the results obtained with these methods. If greater agreement between methods can be achieved, test items can be more effectively screened using judgmental methods prior to…