Findings from several recent studies suggest that the gender, cultural background and age of observers may influence their perception and evaluation of nonverbal communication. There is ample evidence to warrant using raters of only one sex (preferably female) and only one cultural background when the rating task involves decoding nonverbal…

Previous research studies show that interacting elements affecting reported classroom observation of teacher behavior are: (1) teacher characteristics; (2) observer characteristics; (3) influence of status characteristics upon social interaction; (4) effect of sex and topic on judgment of competence; (5) beliefs concerning teaching and teaching…

Describes a research methodology known as the teaching experiment and details an example of a teaching experiment aimed at the development of a process-oriented algebra curriculum. Addresses other possible variations of the teaching experiment, emphasizing the cooperation of teachers and researchers. (TW)

Discusses the work of Donald Graves, who has achieved wide recognition for propounding a method of teaching writing that stresses unstructured expression of personal experiences, using a case study of 16 children as his research base. Concludes that because Graves never considers negative evidence for his hypotheses, his work constitutes reportage…

Discusses the differing viewpoints of a classroom teacher and a researcher on the use of small groups as a teaching technique to illustrate the conflict between the researcher/teacher perspectives. (HTH)

Possible relationships between five test examiner characteristics (gender, race, tenure, experience as a test administrator, and experience as a test developer or scorer) and six student achievement scores (reading, writing, language usage, mathematics, science, and social studies) were studied at the school level in a statewide assessment. The…

Discusses the need for critical review of expert scientific findings used in the development of social policy. Uses the case of dissent from the Institute of Medicine's report on health care for the homeless to illustrate the conflict between scientific and practical moral objectivity. (FMW)

Analyzes the judgment calls, changing research philosophy, and methodology of a researcher trained within a noninterventionist model as the individual moves into participatory research. Argues that the nature of doctoral research shapes the research experience and raises issues concerning power in academe and the way that research questions are…

Despite questions about their reliability and validity, student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are a primary measure of instructor performance. The current study examines SETs, including a thorough list of potentially relevant variables. The findings suggest that how much students perceive they learned in a course is an important predictor of SET…

This handbook gives a broad overview of the practice of institutional research in higher education. The first of the handbook's four chapters describes how to define the context for institutional research by looking at where the institution is now, where it is going, and how it can arrive at its desired end. Chapter 2, which discusses how to…

The paper reviews research trends and findings on the development of personality in deaf individuals. The first section, "Adolescent and Adult Deaf Personalities," focuses on studies in the psychological literature that tend to promulgate stereotypical views of deaf people by reflecting researcher bias rather than researcher findings.…

With the view that social scientists conduct too little exploratory research, the author outlines the methods and attitudes of the exploratory analyst and describes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as a source of research data. Exploratory analysis, in which no paradigm is used, is contrasted with confirmatory research, which…

Reports the results of a survey of Croatian researchers in seven scientific disciplines that was conducted to identify their preferred channels of information and to determine interdisciplinary variations in communication behavior. Highlights include information retrieval practices, major information sources, attendance at national and…

This study examined the influence of survey validity screening on the results from three group-administered school surveys administered to samples totaling approximately 5500 students in 19 schools. The estimated levels of risk behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and victim experiences were substantially reduced when respondents who gave multiple…

This paper addresses questions of validity, textual authority, and the rhetorical handling of the researcher-as-self by examining current thinking on poststructural approaches in the work of Patti Lather and Laurel Richardson. The first section introduces the idea of inquiry validity as an "incitement to discourse," a view which changes…