Faculty advisors must help social sciences students understand their many options, from immediate postbaccalaureate fieldwork to graduate-level professoriate preparation. Social sciences advisors should use their interest in human behavior to design research identifying crucial ingredients of a successful advisor-advisee relationship and to match…

Outlines the social and practical problems faced by foster care graduates and discusses these issues in the light of recent research in England and Wales. Offers ideas on how these problems may be ameliorated in general and outlines the way the new British child care law has provided a framework for action by practitioners. (AA)

Focuses on current knowledge of families' involvement in intensive family preservation services. Identifies gaps in knowledge pertaining to the context of service delivery, the theory of family preservation practice, the process of service delivery, and the conceptualization and meaning of service outcomes. Suggests that gaps might be…

Describes a study of undergraduates that was conducted to describe differences in anxiety in students entering two computer courses (i.e., a problem-solving and programing course and a software applications course) and to assess changes in anxiety levels attributed to each course. Further research is suggested. (19 references) (LRW)

Explains the concept of diagnosing information needs as part of the role of the school library media specialist. Topics discussed include the diagnostic process, i.e., the reference interview; information psychology; theories of information transfer; a model for diagnosing information needs; and implications for practitioners and for research. (19…

Discussion of school improvement focuses on a study of Ontario educators that examined their use of various sources of information, including conferences, workshops, and inservice training, for improvement purposes. Knowledge utilization is discussed; interactive processes between the information and the setting are considered; and predictor…

The construct of performance expectations provides a way to organize knowledge about classroom instruction and learning. Areas of expectations that merit research include teacher knowledge of subject, teacher decisions about curriculum content and time allocation, classroom management, changes in expectations between teachers, task variables, and…

Discusses changes in and future prospects of information delivery systems, including libraries, and describes four areas that the Council on Library Resources (CLR) is addressing to promote the evolution of information services: human resource issues; economic issues; infrastructure questions; and information processing and access. Other…

Ten observational studies indicate that condoms help prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but research on barriers and spermicides is lacking. Given the effectiveness of female-controlled methods in preventing other sexually transmitted diseases, more research into protection from HIV infection by use of diaphragms and spermicides…

Examines the Swedish experience for lessons to help reduce infant mortality in the United States. Because of Sweden's efforts to eliminate poverty and provide comprehensive health care, there are only small social class differences in infant mortality. Class and race issues play much larger roles in the United States. (SLD)

Provides an overview of research on the effectiveness of microcomputer applications with at-risk students and suggests that many findings in the literature are questionable because of flaws in research methodology. Issues relating to measurement, learning environment, computer utilization, gender, and socioeconomic status are addressed, and…

The evolution of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC); and changes in its mission and operating policies at its creation, the redesign of 1987, and during the present planning for a second quarter century are discussed. Eight program improvement initiatives are discussed. (SLD)

This overview of the research process for the novice information retrieval (IR) researcher provides guidance on selecting a research question, choosing the type of test, defining variables, developing or using databases, finding and processing queries, assigning treatments to experimental units, collecting and analyzing the data, and presenting…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

Discussion of search strategy formulation focuses on a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that analyzed how medical students developed and revised search strategies for microbiology database searches. Implications for future research on search behavior, for system interface design, and for end user training are suggested. (16…