In August 1979, Amedeo Giorgi presented a workshop on "Phenomenological Theory and Method" at the University of Goteborg (Sweden). This report describes that workshop. First, the major concepts of phenomenology are introduced (Intentionality, Description, Reduction, and Essence), followed by a brief description of Husserl's philosophical…

The relation of research to politics is described in three stages: (1) securing the contract in response to a request for proposals (RFP) format; (2) conducting the actual field research on site and in a university setting; and (3) securing final sign off on the completed research product. A second purpose of this paper is to compare the…

Success for All, evaluated highly in several cities, has received unfair criticism. Opposing the process for developing, evaluating, and disseminating effective programs to high-poverty schools (particularly highlighting flaws in a tiny subset of studies) merely sows doubt and misinformation about a most promising reform development. (Contains 44…

This article describes the potential measurement problem in analyzing costs and benefits of vocational education so that policymakers and educators can distinguish between proper use and misuse of this evaluation technique. (Author/CT)

Reviews elements of research that need to be monitored by funding agencies and/or organizations carrying out research, and examines the problems and possibilities of research into the impact of research. Presents a case study of a project that focused on three strands of research undertaken at the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom). (Author)

Highlighting Success for All, this article argues that federal funds are being used to support the promulgation and biased evaluation of failed programs. Educators need to beware of conflicts of interest and developers' misleading claims about publicly and privately developed programs. Independent evaluators are needed. (MLH)

The naturalistic perspective is concerned with the "micro" world of the school and classroom interaction and neglects the material determination of the phenomenological world. Advances in understanding the social world are more likely to occur if social research adopts the methodological apparatus of scientific Marxism. (JN)

Describes a study that evaluated implementation of curriculum materials for secondary social studies in the Netherlands. The evaluation focused on individual teachers' actual use of these materials in their classrooms. A large discrepancy emerged between the curriculum developers' original intentions and the observed instructional processes.…

Three papers consider the effect of divestiture on the research and development capacity of Bell Telephone. The first paper, "Forecasts of the Impact of Divestiture on Bell Telephone Laboratories: An Assessment" (David C. Mowery), discusses the operation of Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) prior to divestiture in 1984 and reviews…

Naturalistic research should produce reports which afford participants access to the process of interpretation. Naturalistic researchers should anticipate the need for negotiation relationships. However, the consequence of giving participants access to the process of interpretation is that it generates conflict. (JN)

The author describes the evaluation planning done for the Project for Science Integration in Ghana, with emphasis on the contextual limitations in a developing nation concerning the teachers, students, authors, materials, and finances. With careful planning, it was found that illuminating data for instructional improvement could be collected. (SJL)

Recognition of new demands in Swedish education during the 1960s led to selection of eight principles to be considered in educational facilities planning. These principles concerned (1) freedom of students to change schools, (2) availability of school space for nonschool functions, (3) flexible use of spaces for varied student activities, (4)…

Neoconservative advocates of private and religious school choice are trying to exploit the dissatisfactions of poor, predominantly minority parents to create a publicly funded private school system free of public control and oversight. This alternative system would inevitably reproduce and legally sanction the "separate but equal"…

Mentoring programs cannot always obliterate deficiencies in adult/child relationships or better student achievement. Two successful programs are the Big Brother/Big Sister program and the Office of Juvenile Justice's Juvenile Mentoring Program. (JUMP). Social support, not social control, is essential. Sidebars contain program tips and selected…

This document presents an attempt to evaluate the benefits of Movement Plus, a program of physical recreation for elderly persons, designed to address the social, biological, and psychological dimensions of aging. The setting for the evaluation is described as a home for the aged which housed 96 elderly women. Research problems involved in…