Reviews of research in special education have a unique place in the scientific literature, with the potential to inform a broad audience about the effectiveness and acceptability of assessment and intervention strategies for a heterogeneous group of children and youth. Results from reviews are useful to school leaders, practitioners, parents,…

"Imagination for Inclusion" offers a reconsideration of the ways in which imagination engages and empowers learners across the education spectrum, from primary to adult levels and in all subject areas. Imagination as a natural, expedient, and exciting learning tool should be central to any approach to developing and implementing…

This paper provides education-based researchers and practitioners with the preferred research and design methods used by Higher Education Institute (HEI) students and Key Stage 3 (KS3) pupils applied within a participatory approach to a design activity. The outcomes were that both pupils and students found informal (unstructured) interview to be…

It is crucial for social researchers to clarify their researchers' roles, especially for those utilizing qualitative methodology to make their research credible. The purpose of this paper is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the researcher's insider role, an instructor, occupied within case study research on the integration of…

Although some writers have suggested that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), contrary to its intent, was responsible for a decline in employment for persons with disabilities, there is little strong empirical support for such an assertion. This study is an attempt to demonstrate that, in fact, the dismal labor market experience following…

In psychological and special education research, group comparison experimental designs are more often used than single subject experimental designs. However, the application of group designs poses many difficulties, such as the collection of large numbers of homogeneous subjects for a particular experimental condition, the averaging of individual…

This paper describes development of a study that includes participatory action research, specifically the establishment of a family advisory committee. The study involved a survey of Massachusetts families of children with disabilities. Suggestions for establishing and integrating the committee into the research enterprise are offered, as are…

This paper discusses the design of a program by the Nashville (Tennessee) Center for Independent Living (CIL) to train consumers with disabilities in employing, training, supervising, and firing personal attendants. The program, supported by the Tennessee Developmental Disabilities (DD) Planning Council, provided an opportunity for program design…

Examination of seven refereed journals over a 10-year period (1977-1986) identified 28 papers using single-subject research methodology in studies involving preschool-aged children with handicaps or their families. Five types of single-subject designs were found to be used both alone and in various combinations. Of the 30 research designs…

The review of some recent studies on use of microcomputers in early childhood special education highlights methodological issues including the qualitative quantitative distinction and the interdependence of research design and interpretation. Imbedding qualitative methods into quasi- or true-experimental designs can provide more information than…

This article describes four single-subject research designs comparing two or more interventions with young disabled children--the multitreatment design, alternating treatments design, adapted alternating treatments design, and parallel treatments design. Problems in using these designs include multitreatment interference, nonreversibility of some…

This article describes the multielement design, often recommended in single-subject research, and discusses its advantages and disadvantages for research in early intervention with handicapped children. The article concludes that the multielement design has many advantages, though multiple treatment interference is an issue of concern. (JDD)

This paper describes guidelines for reporting findings from studies using single subject methods, an approach from which early intervention has benefited substantially. Guidelines address: the foundations of the study, what was done to whom under what situations, what the data say, and what the findings mean. (Contains references.) (DB)

Mixed methods research has increased in popularity over the past 20 years. Literature reveals that exploratory qualitative analysis followed by confirmatory survey research is common and concurrent studies outnumber longitudinal design. Longitudinal studies using quantitative and qualitative methods in sequence for exploratory purposes are rare,…

The paper summarizes and presents counter arguments against positions claiming that randomized experiments in early childhood are unnecessary, impractical, or unethical. It is concluded that more frequent use of randomized experiments in early childhood special education would provide more effective program evaluation data for resource allocation…