Highlights the old but important debate about the difference between statistical significance and the practical or educational value of research findings. Argues for proper reporting of quantitative research using meta-analysis methods developed in the 1970s. Contains 53 references. (DDR)

In a study of questioning formats, children and adults answered spelling questions in an open-ended condition or one of two close-ended conditions where options were likely or unlikely. Participants presented with unlikely-response options generated their own responses more often than participants presented with likely-response options. Children…

Introduces the "Current Issues" section on validity concerns associated with student ratings. Articles address issues of conceptual structure, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and consequential validity regarding interpretation and use of ratings data. (MMU)

Junior nursing students participated as research subjects in a faculty study, collected data for a student project on health attitudes, and analyzed both studies' findings. Thus, they learned about the research process through participation in several different phases. (SK)

Discusses societal reasons for the abuse of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Suggests some solutions that are linked to current professional literature and thinking on international disability policy. These include reliable nationwide data on abuse, training about abuse for all personnel who work with children who have disabilities, and…

At the University of Alberta (Canada), the Amazon Project is identifying and mapping continuing-professional-development activities and resources available through the University. The project has met challenges related to definitions of terms, lack of relevant information and statistics, and faculty suspicion and resistance. (SV)

Describes the value of an electronic database to record information for school library materials being considered for addition to the collection. Discusses marking titles from journals, entering the information into the database, sorting options, fields to include, and transferring records to other databases when materials are received and…

Examines item-response theory (IRT), which seeks to model the way in which latent psychological constructs manifest themselves in terms of observable item responses. Provides an overview of the most popular IRT models and contrasts them with the techniques used in classical test theory. Results highlight several IRT advantages. (Author/GCP)

Presents issues concerning return on investment (ROI) and its use in education and training. Discussion includes building a feasible ROI process; criteria for an effective ROI process; a practical model for ROI, which includes preliminary evaluation, data collection, isolating program effects, converting data to monetary values, tabulating program…

This article describes a 2-year qualitative study designed to enhance understanding of social integration by including the perspectives of individuals with intellectual disabilities. It discusses the procedures and strategies used to involve individuals with intellectual disabilities, including individual interviews and focus groups to collect…

Outlines the rationale and design of the Social and Organizational Life Data Archive (SOLDA), an on-line collection of survey and other statistical data relevant to research in the fields of management, organizational studies, industrial relations, marketing, and related social sciences. The database uses CD-ROM technology and the World Wide Web…

Suggests that for distance education to become a more articulated discipline, researching theory-based practice, collecting data from it, and interpreting data within the theoretical framework of the field is of utmost importance. Discusses the problems with a theoretical reporting of projects and practice, and briefly highlights contributions of…

Collecting outdoor adventurers' stories for research is best done using the naturalistic inquiry paradigm. This type of hypothesis-free investigation, used in the study of folklore, requires maintaining the normal storytelling context while meeting scholarly demands for reliability and validity. Choice of focus and site, the participant-observer…

Advocates data-driven decision making as a key to school improvement. Discusses how data can be used to improve education, what types of data should be collected, should teachers serve as researchers, how data can be used effectively, and what steps schools can take to improve their use of data. (VWC)

Presents examples of the types of investigations which exploit the tools now commonly featured in data-logging software. Emphasizes the importance of designing tasks that encourage pupils to think about the data and the principles which underpin worthwhile data-logging tasks. (Author/ASK)