This study attempts to identify trends in vocational guidance research. These are content areas and subject populations that have received a great deal of research while other areas and subject types are in need of more emphasis. Hopefully, editors and teachers can use influence to correct this imbalance. (Author)

Considers some ways to improve the milieu in which educational research and development takes place, including balancing procurement methods, modifying expectations of R & D, building a political constituency and developing realistic legislative goals, obtaining continual adequate research support, and, joining researchers and practitioners.…

Argues that what we need to do in the future is: (1) to continue to validate broader methodological approaches to evaluation; (2) to defend alternative scientific approaches and at the same time to indicate how they differ from essentially nonscientific views of the world; (3) to recognize the difference between methodological familiarity and…

Presents two models: the first "addresses children of different socioeconomic statuses and ethnic backgrounds to assess the relative importance of attributes to children across class and caste-like lines" whereas the second "argues that the arena in which children function is composed of three parts: the family, the school and the peers."…

Discusses sensory-perceptual abnormalities in people with autism from published firsthand accounts and existing psychological research evidence. A range of abnormalities, including hyper- and hyposensitivity, sensory distortion and overload, and multichannel receptivity and processing difficulties, are described and the limitations of clinical and…

Peer education has been promoted by college health service health education programs for years. This paper questions some assumptions that underlie the use of peer health educators, highlights problems associated with training peer paraprofessionals, and discusses program evaluation, noting ways to work effectively with students to enhance health…

Updates a 1983 analysis of 58 knowledge gap studies, adding 39 studies and pointing out innovative ways to improve research in the area. Notes serious consequences of the persistence of knowledge inequalities, with gaps in public affairs and health knowledge having a severe impact on groups most negatively affected by the rapid and accelerating…

Presents a roundtable discussion by researchers in business communication of research methodology issues. Discusses what is gained and lost when classifying data; how to proceed if journal reviewers ask contributors to rethink their methodology; whether methodology itself can be challenged; and how readership of a journal can impact methodological…

The Supreme Court's recent legal reinterpretation of desegregation requirements for "de jure" segregated states and its finding (in "United States vs. Fordice") of continued segregation in Mississippi is being used by civil lights activists to compel redesign of effective remedies, monitor progress, and increase racial…

Outlines the seven stages of the Research Activity Timeline (RAT) data collection/analysis technique which structures the research interview around a discussion of participants' current specific work projects. Illustrates the use of RAT through results of the Information Access Project, which examined the use of information technology-assisted…

Noting discrepancies between findings in the research literature on the social competence of gifted children and educators' subjective experience of students' social problems, this article examines five alternative hypotheses which may account for these discrepancies. Five areas of change are suggested to improve research on the social competence…

This article analyzes research on consultation practices in educating students with special needs. The article summarizes previous reviews of consultation outcome research, reviews recent (1985-95) empirically based outcome research in educational settings, critiques various methodological features, and provides recommendations for future…

Discusses the significance of research on the transition to adulthood, examining social-historical changes that may increase the role of individual and familial factors structuring this phase of the life course. Reviews leaving home in regard to its importance as a factor in late adolescence and the transition to adulthood. (HTH)

This introduction to the special issue on research needs and issues in education for students with emotional and behavioral disorders explains how the special issue originated, and identifies major topics of papers included in the issue, such as the importance of classroom structure, the role of setting events, social skills training, and…

This paper defines natural workplace supports for individuals with severe disabilities and proposes a working model for future research and practice. Emphasis is placed on natural supports as an outcome of successful employment rather than a distinct model for support and as a contributing factor to the quality of life. (Author/CR)