The choice of a common metric for the meta-analysis (quantitative synthesis) of correlational and experimental research studies is presented and justified. First, a background for the problem of identifying a common metric is presented. Second, the percentage of accounted variance (PAV) is described as the metric of choice, and reasons are given…

Outlining a cluster procedure which maximizes specific criteria while building scales from binary measures using a sequential, agglomerative, overlapping, non-hierarchic method results in indices giving truer results than exploratory facotr analyses or multidimensional scaling. In a series of eleven figures, patterns within cluster histories…

Describes the Experience Sampling Method, a quasi-naturalistic method that involves signaling research subjects at random times throughout the day, and asking them to report on the nature and quality of their experience. Discusses the method's applications and value in research topics in organizational settings; with mass and mediated…

Techniques for improving response rate on mail questionnaire surveys are discussed. (JD)

The implications of the dialectical perspective for research methodology are reviewed and illustrated with examples from research on memory and memory development. Three conversations or dialogues are described: within the researcher, between the researcher and the research participants, and between the researcher and social-historical context. It…

Many concepts in developmental psychology are inferred or confirmed from very particular experimental or naturalistic observations but investigators often generalize their validity to a broad domain of situations. This permissiveness is affecting progress. This paper provides examples of this error and criticizes the tendency to award essences to…

Aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) identifies patient characteristics and optimal instructional treatments, is compatible with psychological theories and clinical approaches, and offers a specific methodology for approaching existing problems in a new way. This article presents studies in which ATI has illuminated patient needs and treatments…

This study tested the performance of nonexperimental estimators of impacts applied to a class size reduction intervention with achievement test scores as the outcome. Nonexperimental estimates of impacts were compared to "true impact" estimates provided by a random-assignment design that assessed intervention effects. Data came from…

Implementing an enrollment projection methodology and a planning methodology in a school district is often a complex problem because many possibilities exist. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that successful research techniques used by some school districts can instruct other districts about methods and aims to pursue or avoid in…

Describes the design of a cohort of 6th-grade students, methods for tracking and retaining students as they advanced through 8th and 11th grade, and costs involved for survey completion in school and by mail for students who had ever and never used tobacco. Problems unique to the school setting are addressed, with suggestions for efficient…

This paper documents one of several themes arising from a larger research study which invited trainees' views on their experience in a weekly, 2 year, dance movement therapy (DMT) personal development group. This group formed part of their post-graduate training. The study used a phenomenological, grounded theory and collaborative methodology…

Contrasts two types of research methodologies based on two modes of apprehension of the educational sphere, phenomenological-subjectivist and scientific-objectivist. Suggests a third, alternative in action-research which establishes a system of dialectic relations between theory and practice. The French ARPEGE action-research project on home and…

Details the kinds of data and data sources used in "A Study of Schooling," the limitations of these data, examples of research questions explored, and the intentions of the researchers during analysis and interpretation of the data. (Author/IRT)

The two sections of this report focus on recent research in the newspaper industry. The first section describes changes implemented in the design and layout of a Minnesota daily newspaper and the methodology and results of two surveys of readers' favorable reactions to the changes. The second section is designed to familiarize newspaper people…

Two teams, each comprised of teachers, a researcher, and a trainer/developer spent fifteen and a half months implementing the Interactive Research and Development on Teaching (IR&DT) strategy, a specialized educational research medthodology stressing interactive rather than linear communication between teachers and researchers. These teams are…