Distance educators, particularly those in developing countries, are facing the implementation of massive education programs with little research to guide them. Some developing countries have used established programs from other countries as models to provide low-cost instruction for basic literacy and job training; however, in many cases, they are finding it difficult to adapt programs designed to meet the needs of a different culture. The lack of appropriate research poses a twofold problem. First, how can original, high quality research be done given the economic, political, and social constraints which are often present in developing countries? Second, how can relevant research which has already been conducted be located and evaluated? Although distance education research is reported in journals, at conferences, in government reports, and in newsletters, such information is difficult to locate and to interpret due to the lack of any effort to centralize the data. A project has been undertaken at Arizona State University to locate and analyze significant existing research on distance education and to synthesize the results using meta-analysis. A meta-analytic model using HyperCard technology has been designed for this purpose. To date, two major areas of inquiry have been identified: (1) instruction, with the sub-categories learning, attitudes, and attrition; and (2) administration, with the sub-categories cost-effectiveness and courseware design. It is hoped that this quantitative synthesis of research, by identifying which interventions are successful, will provide the information international distance educators need to develop new strategies for their own programs. (13 references) (GL)