School counselors need to understand survey methodology even if they do not use it as research practitioners. Counselors can be better consumers of survey research by noting response rates, sampling techniques, reliability and validity in research articles. (JAC)

Investigates two questions of interest to persons who treat children with psychological difficulties: (1) What is attachment theory? and (2) Does it have relevance when working with disturbed children and their families? (Author/DB)

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded several grants to study effects of and possible solutions to the problem of "acid rain"; pollution from atmospheric nitric and sulfuric acids. The research program is administered through North Carolina State University at Raleigh and will focus on biological effects of acid rain. (JMF)

Never has any study received more national attention than that conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The study was directed to determine why SAT scores in high schools throughout the country either remained unchanged or improved since 1973. The author disputes this study. (Author/CMG)

Describes a process for training ethnographers to participate in classroom field research. Discusses four principal objectives: (1) to facilitate an understanding of the research's conceptual focus; (2) to establish the technique and intellectual orientation for a common ethnographic approach; (3) to instruct ethnographers in ethnographic…

Gotlib and Asarnow suggest that learned helplessness may not adequately model clinical depression. They reply to Rohsenow's criticism that Gotlib and Asarnow's conclusions are unwarranted because the null hypothesis is not demonstrated by a single study and because adequate diagnostic criteria are not presented. (Author/BEF)

The paper evaluates the empirical and theoretical basis upon which several recent studies reject the hypothesis of a visual-perceptual deficit in reading disabilities. (Author)

Challenges the view that the social sciences are theoretically impoverished disciplines when compared with the natural sciences. Demonstrates that the synthesis of an abstract Darwinian model of systemic adaptation and the behavioral principles of social learning produces a logical theory of sociocultural evolution. (DB)

The task of the sports sociologist is to be able, through disciplined inquiry, to test available evidence against personal assumption. Sociological analysis in its classical form is necessarily critical and action-oriented. (Author/LH)

Identifies four major areas of recent investigations: cross-cultural studies of political socialization, the focus on the interactive nature of the individual in the process of learning about politics, the need to examine the comparative impacts of the various agencies of political socialization, and methodological and conceptual refinements.…

Three methods for improving scientific-pedagogical research are suggested: (1) increase the role of theoretical inquiry in the study of pedagogical phenomena, (2) unite the analysis of theoretical ideas with the study of typical features of pedagogical practice, and (3) evaluate critically the conclusions and recommendations of research.…

Article is a description of an evaluation conducted by the center for New Schools for an innovative program in the Cleveland Heights, Ohio schools. The rationale for the use of ethnographic methods and problems that arose from the CNS experiences are discussed. (RW)

Recommendations of committee include greater centralization of research activities; improved communication between social researchers and policy-makers; better coordination in research by the establishment of planning bodies at different levels; and increased funding. (RW)

Makes a case for the formulation of models of status attainment processes that not only model the outcomes of such processes, but also attempt to directly mirror the mechanisms that produce observed outcomes. Presents an evaluation of Boudon's contribution toward constructing such a model of the attainment processes. (Author/JM)

Critically examines the portions of Arthur Jensen's books that concern Barbara Burks' 1928 study of adoptive families. Findings are that Burks' sample was highly selective, that her environmental measures were limited, and that Jensen has misrepresented the content and implications of her study. It is also shown that Jensen's estimates of…