"Communication and Education: Promoting Peace and Democracy in Times of Crisis and Conflict" explores the complexities of addressing divisive societal challenges, reducing conflicts, and building and sustaining peace and democracy around the world. Contributions by an international panel of experts provide evidence-based practices,…

This article provides a primer for researchers exploring ethical issues in the research of group work. The article begins with an exploration of relevant ethical issues through the research process and current standards guiding its practice. Next, the authors identify resources that group work researchers can consult prior to constructing their…

Induced by a literature review, this paper presents a framework of dimensions and indicators highlighting the underpinning aspects and values of social learning within teacher groups. Notions of social networks, communities of practice and learning teams were taken as the main perspectives to influence this social learning framework. The review…

This brief provides tips for forming a team of staff and consultants with the needed expertise to make key measurement decisions that will ensure high-quality data for answering the study's research questions. The brief outlines the main responsibilities of measurement team members. It also describes typical measurement tasks and discusses…

The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) was founded in 1994 to provide a meeting ground and support organization for individual social workers who engage in research. Over its first 14 years, SSWR has grown from a modest-sized organization that hosted an initial conference to a large and influential force that sponsors a wildly successful…

This article explores whether focus groups can constitute a culturally sensitive method of data gathering for educational leadership, management and related areas in a Gulf-Arab cultural context. Reviewing the literature on focus groups and cross-cultural psychology for the Arab region, it identifies key notions related to societal values such as…

Observers are known to form inferences about an actor on the basis of the actor's behavior, regardless of the external forces contributing to that behavior. Two studies were conducted to determine whether this inferential error would also occur at the level of group activity. In the first study, 70 undergraduates read about a decision made by a…

Many theorists have examined the roles that social comparison, social projection, and group membership might play in shaping a person's beliefs. Several hypotheses regarding certainty of opinion and perceived similarity between oneself and one's ingroup were tested in a sample of 76 white male commuter students at two universities. Subjects were…

A series of tests and interviews with 45 Hispanic first year students at 2 Ivy League universities was conducted to examine the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem. A strong Hispanic identity acted as a buffer to perceived threat, particularly for men. (DM)

A bibliography is itself a database from which may be extracted useful information about both scientific fields and the practitioners who work in them. How bibliographies store and reveal this information is discussed. For example, one can identify problems being researched by scientists by examining publication titles. (RM)

Suggests that U.S. higher education reinforces the nation's individualistic values, including rejection of socialism's group orientation. Explains that the university promoted social mobility in the postwar era. Suggests that U.S. guilt about race relations gave rise to affirmative action. Argues that the policy ironically has heightened awareness…

In this article, we examine similarities and differences in the academic, social, and behavioral skills of high school students with emotional disturbances (ED) and learning disabilities (LD). Two groups of high school students with ED (n = 45) and LD (n = 49) were compared on nine measures in academic, behavioral, and social domains using…

Three major professional associations for research administrators (National Conference on the Administration of Research, National Council of University Research Administrators, and Society of Research Administrators) are described and compared in terms of their objectives, group membership, and activities. The three are seen to serve different…

A common sexual stereotype, supported by research evidence, is that women are more sociable than men. In studies using standardized measures of social interests, social values, needs for inclusion and acceptance, and the need for affiliation, women nearly always score higher than men. In studies comparing the social skills of women and men, women…

Research on white college males has shown that people have a more complex schema regarding in-groups than out-groups. In an attempt to replicate the studies (Linville and Jones) on cognitive complexity and liking with a noncollege, racially and sexually mixed population, 60 randomly selected adult males and females read three vignettes describing…