Empirical information is presented on how researchers at Swedish institutes of education perceive, structure, and define educational and psychological problems. The collection, evaluation, and presentation of the results of the study were made on the basis of system theoretic assumptions in that the description and analysis of the initial phase of…

The authors surveyed experts in the field of neuro-behavioral research to determine the directions of progress being made in increasing understanding of neural processing and storage of information. Based on this investigation, their report presents examples of research being pursued in this area. The authors see neuro-behavioral research leading…

In this revised version of ED 127 248, the author has re-evaluated response data from a survey of 1680 selected engineering freshmen at 42 schools. The survey was an effort to identify distinguishing characteristics of the increasing numbers of women entering engineering programs. Respondents, who included men and women, were asked to give…

Four problems are identified concerning politics and power as they relate to public schooling. The first problem is the definition of basic terms and the development of a vocabulary common to researchers investigating the field. Second is the problem of collecting information on and evidence of the political process. This problem is complicated by…

Purposes and alternative forms of mass communications research are explored in this four-part presentation. Part One examines the origins of, and the differences between, two conflicting types of research: administrative research, in which the mass media are perceived as neutral tools, capable of serving a wide range of purposes; and critical…

There is a growing need for program evaluation in the human services field. Along with this is a need to assess environments in order to plan effective programs. Graduate programs are doing little to prepare students for this task. Instead of training students how to do evaluation, graduate programs stubbornly adhere to the experimental…

The methodological difficulty of evaluating alternative programs in specific, measurable terms is described. Based on an alternative program at Talawanda High School in Oxford, Ohio, the writer attempted to develop a model for evaluating an alternative program. The following evaluation procedures were selected: (1) attendance and grades prior to…

Model identification of time-series data is essential to valid statistical tests of intervention effects. Model identification is, at best, inexact in the social and behavioral sciences where one is often confronted with small numbers of observations. These problems are discussed, and the results of independent identifications of 130 social and…

This report is a followup of an earlier study which attempted to assess the effectiveness of a Montessori program for preschool inner-city children. Data collected from the children over a 3-year followup period is analyzed, and the children's performance is compared with that of various control groups. There was some evidence that children in the…

Since problems associated with the statistical methodology of educational research are becoming increasingly important, this paper examines a subset of problems associated with the analysis and interpretation of aggregated data. Two major questions arise: (1) if a researcher knows the level (e.g., individual, teacher/classroom, school, school…

One reason the field of education research is so vague is that there is no specific methodology that belongs to such research. Policy makers and people who appropriate funds would get a clearer idea of what research can contribute to an understanding of schools, colleges, students, and teachers if the research community were clearer about what it…

The present paper contributes to research methodology as practiced in the field by providing practitioners with a concise statement of the problems in analyzing unbalanced designs, and by clarifying the conditions under which the analysis alternatives are most appropriate. The purposes of the present paper are: (1) to examine the analysis…

In an effort to identify distinguishing characteristics of the increasing numbers of women entering engineering programs, a survey was made of 1,680 selected engineering freshmen at 42 schools. The 230-question survey required male and female students to respond to multiple-choice items covering their family and educational background, study…

This chapter presents a number of problems related to designing local-level summative evaluation studies and suggests solutions to these problems. Three general areas are covered. First, many of the motivational, organizational, and attitudinal constraints likely to face the local-level evaluator are discussed. Second, various threats to the…

The art of relating educational research to public policy is still primitive. Educational policy is formed mainly by tradition and the political pressure of interest groups, while educational researchers study questions determined by the scientific community. Educational research has not noticeably influenced policy because trained researchers…