Because increasing the rate of student retention has become synonymous with higher college enrollments, there is a resurgence of interest in developmental programs and a need to identify what a developmental reading program can deliver in a total retention effort. Two issues from retention research confront college reading programs: the…

The problem of model estimation when the data are collinear was examined. Though the ridge regression (RR) outperforms ordinary least squares (OLS) regression in the presence of acute multicollinearity, it is not a problem free technique for reducing the variance of the estimates. It is a stochastic procedure when it should be nonstochastic and it…

Three studies were conducted to test the beliefs that respondents' lack of opinions on public issues offer a realistic explanation for the inconsistencies of opinion measurement and that public opinion researchers may err by forcing respondents to express opinions they really do not hold. The first study, a survey of 612 adults, asked the subjects…

It is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from existing studies of the academic performance of college transfer students because of the fact that the findings of one college are generally not applicable to another institution. However, the university concerned with the retention and achievement of its transfer students can use these studies…

Research on the retention or promotion of failing students has been unable to demonstrate the superiority of either method, concludes the author of this review. Furthermore, research shows that neither method by itself solves the educational problems of low-achieving students, since both retained and promoted students continue to achieve at levels…

The proper use of Pearson's chi-square for the analysis of contingency tables is reviewed. A 1949 article by Lewis and Burke, in which they cite nine primary sources of error in the use of chi-square, serves as the basis of the review. Those nine sources of error are re-examined in light of current research. In addition, techniques and research on…

This paper presents a description of police research problems in such fashion that it could be generalized to other types of organizations. A two-dimensional taxonomy of problems in conducting psychological research in police departments is discussed. The first dimension concerns generality-uniqueness of the problem, relative to formal…

Papers from a forum sponsored by the Association for Institutional Research address the role problems of institutional researchers and the special position of institutional research in institutions of higher education and the issues that lead to conflict between institutional research, data gathering activities, and the faculty. In "Dilemmas in…

The problems of relating research to practice are discussed in the context of what, why, and how. The what of recent research is illustrated by examples which suggest that media-related research is becoming more rigorous, analytical, and theoretical, and thus more reliable and generally applicable. The why is briefly argued with reference to the…

Research in the development of prosocial behavior in children is better done by naturalistic than by experimental methods. The choice of what problems to address in social science research depends upon value commitments. The ultimate criterion for evaluating research in the behavioral sciences must be social relevance and utility. The dominant…

Research on personality and aging has been limited by several factors, including nomethetic assumptions about traits; overreliance on morale scales as measures of adaptation; and the confounding of cohort, time of measurement and age effects. An idiographic approach, which focuses on traits that individuals subjectively feel as important, may help…

A report is made of a study to analyze the effects of a human relations component in an introduction to education course on the self concept and interpersonal relations of secondary preservice teachers. Forty-four preservice teachers were divided into experimental and control groups with the experimental group receiving 14 weeks of validated human…

The importance of collaboration between professional research and professional personnel in the classroom and school office is described, and suggestions are made for overcoming barriers to effective collaboration. Crandall's conditions for effective collaboration are: that the participants possess substantive competency; that both organizations…

Knowledge of the magnitude of effect(s) of an experimental study in science education should be of utmost concern to researchers in the field, but is often not reported. This document describes the concept of "explained variance" in analysis of variance designs and then explains how it can be calculated and reported. Reporting the magnitude of…