Describes problems in implementing placebo controls in psychotherapy including the difficulty of ensuring that therapists and their patients will view both the experimental and placebo treatments as comparably credible. Considers six research issues stemming from the definitional requirement that the placebo control for the critical and specific…

Identifies and discusses three myths that pervade experimental counseling and psychotherapy: (1) that experimental subjects receive treatments appropriate to their clinical problems; (2) that the treatments are deployed as purported; and (3) that control groups customarily used by researchers allow them to determine the existence of a treatment…

An examination of the scientific basis of both control group designs and comparative designs in outcome research reveals that comparative designs generally have fewer threats to validity and provide a more efficient means of control for nonspecific treatment factors suggesting that comparative studies warrant a larger role in the study of…

Many problems confront researchers who are developing appropriate methods to determine the effects of sexual abuse. Particularly serious problems arise when the victims are children who were abused while attending a day care center. Several methods for studying child sexual abuse have been recommended. This paper discusses problems researchers…

Is it ethical to select clients at random for a beneficial social service, then deny the benefits to a control group for the sake of science? Participation of control groups in planning, implementation and evaluation of social programs may resolve ethical issues. (Author/CP)

Employed a developmental context to discuss the problem of assessing both quantitative and qualitative deficits in the behavioral profiles of various diagnostic subcategories of developmentally disabled children. Methods of appropriate matching of control groups are suggested to help delineate specific and general deficits in subgroups of…

The Walsh and Carballo evaluation of the effectiveness of transitional bilingual education programs in five Massachusetts communities, has the following flaws: (1) the sample of school districts studied suffered from "self-selection bias"; (2) the sample does not include a single large, urban school district; (3) the student samples…

This commentary argues that the study reported in EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, needs to be replicated to be convincing, especially given the problem of nonrandom assignment of experimental and control groups. (JDD)

A solution to the problem of specification error due to excluded variables in statistical models of treatment effects in nonrandomized (nonequivalent) control group designs is presented. It involves longitudinal observation with at least two pretests. A maximum likelihood estimation program such as LISREL may provide reasonable estimates of…

The failure of educational research to fully allow for limitations in methodology when drawing conclusions is faulted. In addition to this, a failure on the part of the media--educational and other--to fully publicize these limitations is also criticized. Methodological shortcomings of the 1977-78 American Institutes of Research (AIR) study of…

Examines the Type I Error in research on multimedia's impact on learning. Discusses the lack of a control group; the myth of multimedia benefits and the motivational effects of curiosity, content, and instructional strategies; the economics of multimedia; and dangers of the Type I Error, including inequity, lower scores or standards, wasted…

Considers the impact of information technology (IT) on children's learning in schools with particular reference to two studies that examined the value of using IT. Discussion includes the difficulties of evaluating IT effectiveness and some explanations for the insignificant impact of IT in the studies. (13 references) (KRN)

This commentary on EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, questions the magnitude of the student changes and their significance, because of concerns about the representativeness and comparability of the sample group and the failure to measure skills…

Criticizes the research design in "The Small ICF/MR program: Dimensions of Quality and Cost" (Conroy), that found small Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) for individuals with mental retardation are inferior to other community programs. Discusses the problem in selecting a control group on the basis of pretest matching. (CR)

This commentary on EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, emphasizes the need for replication. The replication study should use random assignment to experimental and control groups, a larger sample of cases, standard diagnostic instruments to delineate…