The concern of this essay is with issues which are involved in the likely consensus among educational researchers that a formal decision theory should be used to determine whether an educational policy--such as selection procedure--is justified. It is argued in Section I that reliance upon decision theory is unwarranted. In Section II, a…

The objective of this study was to examine the research on moral development for findings which could be applied to the design of programs to cultivate moral development in children and youth. The conclusion drawn from the examination of the research is that neither the dominant theoretical frameworks (e.g., Kohlberg's theory) nor the data that…

Although textbooks on educational research give only scant attention to survey research methodology its extensive use in education provides a strong rationale for improving the preparation of educational researchers in effectively applying survey methods. This study reviews methods for dealing with nonresponse bias, the primary problem presented…

For various well-documented reasons, the feminist social movement has been critical of academia as a worksetting and of the social sciences as a set of disciplines. For these reasons, feminists claim that the assumptions underlying several research designs and procedures are sexist. They have developed a feminist methodology to examine these…

Reading researchers should be encouraged to include assessments of practical significance in all their journal articles, reviews of research, technical reports, and dissertations. The tendency has been to base the integration of data entirely on the results of tests for the significance of differences, overlooking the assessment of practical…

Two pathways in the development of a scientific concept can be differentiated: the limited-operationalization approach, which capitalizes upon the availability of an instrument; and the popular consensus approach, which comes from a sudden interest and popularity of the phenomenon in the real world. The phenomenon of mentoring is a contemporary…

An examination of the literature supports the view that the implications of text studies have yet to have much impact on classrooms. For example, word frequency lists have been used widely in the preparation of reading materials. However, few books come with a list of the frequency of the words they contain. Thus, the main use of comparing texts…

The failure of journalism historians to address important philosophical and methodological issues has led to a loss of vitality in historical research and teaching. As far back as the early 1950s, this situation attracted considerable concern, but it was not until the late 1960s that complaints were transformed into critical historiographical…

If the factor loadings of a core set of variables (fitting the general factor model) are the same when analyzed alone, and when analyzed along with the rest of the variables in an infinite behavior domain, there is only one factor variable in the domain that is a possible factor variable of the core set. If the condition of consistency of factor…

Practical advice on frequently asked questions dealing with research and evaluation methodology is presented as rules of thumb, with citations to the author's sources. A statement in the literature is considered a rule of thumb if it meets one of the following criteria: (1) it is specifically called a rule of thumb; (2) it contains numbers in…

This paper outlines the theoretical foundations of Soviet psychology, analyzes major themes based on these foundations, and identifies relevance of Soviet psychological research for American investigators. Basic social and political factors that influence Soviet research include centralization of all scientific and academic endeavors and…

CONFLICTING VIEWS CONCERNING READING RATE ARE PRESENTED. THE CLAIMS MADE BY PROPONENTS OF DIFFERENT METHODS OR PROGRAMS AND THE USE OF MECHANICAL DEVICES TO INCREASE READING RATE ARE MAJOR ISSUES. CLAIMS ARE MADE THAT MOST EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ARE MERELY DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES, AND THAT OTHERS LACK PILOT STUDIES AND ADEQUATE CONTROL GROUPS. RELATED…

THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE CLASSROOM TEACHER WHEN HE TURNS TO RESEARCH FOR PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF TEACHING READING ARE DISCUSSED. IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT RESEARCH SELDOM CREATES IDEAS FOR THE CLASSROOM. INSTEAD, GOOD TEACHING GENERATES IDEAS FOR RESEARCH. NEVERTHELESS, READING TEACHERS SHOULD NOT IGNORE RESEARCH.…