Designed for students and educational professionals researching students' movement into and through higher education, "Crafting and Conducting Research on Student Transitions" is a concise resource, describing both qualitative and quantitative methods. The authors walk readers through the process of selecting a topic, designing a study,…

This paper is based upon experiments developed as part of a Directed Research course designed to provide undergraduate biology students experience in the principles and processes of the scientific method used in biological research. The project involved the evaluation of herbal remedies used in many parts of the world in the treatment of diseases…

Based on key word counts from summaries in the ERIC database and article analysis of the 1975, 1985, and 1995 volumes of Research in Science Education, certain trends appear in the style of research in science education. Trends include the move from brief, controlled, laboratory-style experiments to lengthy observations and descriptions of…

Participatory exercises are standard practice in qualitative methods courses; less common are projects that engage students in the entire research process, from research design to write-up. Although the teaching literature provides several models of complete research projects, their feasibility, and appropriateness for large, compulsory,…

This article provides a brief introduction to the RATE Project. The project seeks to gather accurate information about teacher education, establish trend lines and document changes, study the structures and processes involved in teacher education, and obtain reliable information upon which program development and change initiatives can be based.…

Reflects briefly on how the author chooses what research to do. Discusses specific communication research projects that arose from near-sighted, midrange, and far-sighted planning. (RS)

Presents guidelines for supervising an undergraduate student doing research, including a sample contract set up between the student and the supervisor. The contract may state the research topic, objective, procedures, laboratory requirements, costs, schedule, additional projects, and grading criteria. Other suggestions include scheduled meetings…

Basic information on the research process is offered to college health professionals in four articles titled: "An Introduction to the Research Process,""Designing the Study,""Representative Designs and Their Challenges," and "Analyzing and Communicating Results." Covered are the literature review, hypothesis development, sampling, measurement…

The paper details a study supporting the hypothesis that people's opinions about nuclear arms control are influenced by their logically relevant beliefs about nuclear weapons, nuclear war, and the Soviet Union. The hypothesis should not be construed to imply that these beliefs are the only influences or the most powerful influences on arms control…

At Linkoping University in Sweden, research is organized with both interdisciplinary and problem-oriented approaches, organized in broad problem areas or themes instead of by discipline. The four themes are Public Health and Medical Care in the Community, Human Communication, Technology and Social Change, and Water in Nature and Society.…

A Ph.D. course in ecological agriculture included a weeklong intensive workshop and individual research projects. The course demonstrated the usefulness of multiple approaches to learning research methods and perspectives and increased networking among researchers. (SK)

In celebration of The American College Personnel Association's seventy-fifth anniversary, Senior Scholars developed a project to: determine the trends that will affect high education in the next century; identify the impact these trends will have on student experience; identify research needed to respond to trends; and identify Emerging Scholars…

The results of this study were a series of propositions dealing with the cost-effectiveness of instructional technology. The propositions were developed by collecting and sythesizing existing studies on the subject through use of a propositional inventory research design. Approximately three hundred studies were reviewed and evaluated in terms of…

Intended to help people understand the experience of developing a research project and of carrying out its early stages, this article describes Project Athens, which studied factors affecting the development of a sense of political efficacy among college students. (RM)

Summarizes a presentation by Richard Colwell to the Ohio Graduate Music Education Forum in February, 1996. Colwell argued that music-education research is not focused or organized enough to be answering questions that are truly helpful to practitioners in the field, and he suggested ways to improve music education research. (DSK)