Policy implications stemming from empirical analyses that evaluate national federal compensatory programs are clouded because negative findings could be due to either the nature of the educational process or the inadequacy of the data collection and analysis technique. This paper constructs a framework within which the separate effects of each are…

Previous research on class size has serious limitations because factors such as the abilities of pupils or the experience and teaching style of teachers were not controlled, and because of inconsistent criteria for large and small classes and for criteria of success. A major two-year study was mounted with four class sizes, random assignment of…

This address by the Director of the National Institute on Aging is a plea for the recognition of the necessity of fundamental research on the aging process. It cautions that new scientific discoveries need to be evaluated more carefully before they are used on humans, and warns that the effects of drugs and treatments on older people may vary from…

The follow-up of participants in a longitudinal survey can be difficult and expensive. This paper reviews the experiences of Project TALENT's 11-year follow-up survey of 400,000 individuals tested as high school students in 1960 and the experiences of follow-ups in other longitudinal studies. Methods for minimizing sample attrition and detecting…

The workshop was convened by the Social Science Research Council of Canada as part of its annual meeting. Its purpose was to explore the possible usefulness of a large-scale conference on the same topic. The three papers presented are included in the final report: (1) social science research needs of smaller Canadian universities (John T. Sears);…

A compilation of essays deals with two vital ethical issues: (1) in such matters as genetic research, human subject research, and behavior modification, the conflict between freedom in scientific research and protection of the immediate public; and (2) the question of whether ethical guidelines have to be developed for teachers, or academic…

Argues that while the study of comparative slavery deals with Blacks, it has so far, very little to do with Black or Afro-American history; the focus has been almost entirely upon the institutions and slave systems of the planters, and little attention is given to the lives or longings of the African population caught up in slavery and New World…

Critical comments on an attempt to empirically test a conceptual scheme considered plausible and attractive but which has had little research exploration since the late 1960's reported in Kimpston and Sonnabend's proceeding article, "Public Secondary Schools: The Inter-relationships between Organizational Health and Innovativeness and between…

Discusses the character of the field study and its place in the scientific venture, notes the characteristic attitude toward the relationship between data and hypotheses held by the field researcher, addresses the requirements of educational policy research, and explores the fit between these and the field study's character. (Author/JM)

This testimony, by a research associate at Brookings Institute before a public hearing of the New York City Commission on Human Rights in May 1974, reviews the controversy that has been raging for the last couple of years about whether or not school desegregation does any good for the education of children-including the 1972 article by David Armor…

Notes popular ideas about workload supported or challenged by recent research and recommends the use of standardized categories that define the components of workload, developed by a task force at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMA), so that results of workload studies may be compared. (JT)