The exponential increase in published articles makes a thorough and expedient review of literature increasingly challenging. This review delineated automated tools and platforms that employ artificial intelligence (AI) approaches and evaluated the reported benefits and challenges in using such methods. A search was conducted in 4 databases…

The ability of a scientific discipline to build cumulative knowledge depends on its predominant method of data analysis. A steady accumulation of knowledge requires approaches which allow researchers to consider results from comparable prior research. Bayesian statistics is especially relevant for establishing a cumulative scientific discipline,…

The continuously growing demand for program results has produced an increased need for evaluation capacity building (ECB). The "Integrative ECB Model" was developed to integrate concepts from existing ECB theory literature and to structure a synthesis of the empirical ECB literature. The study used a broad-based research synthesis method with…

This book provides invaluable guidance for thinking through and planning a qualitative study. Rather than offering recipes for specific techniques, master storyteller Robert Stake stimulates readers to discover "how things work" in organizations, programs, communities, and other systems. Topics range from identifying a research question to…

This article reports a synthesis of intervention studies conducted between 1994 and 2004 with older students (Grades 6-12) with reading difficulties. Interventions addressing decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension were included if they measured the effects on reading comprehension. Twenty-nine studies were located and synthesized.…

Discusses the purposes and benefits of data synthesis, explaining the major techniques of extracting information from related studies and using it to explain conflicting outcomes. Stresses the importance of the analyst's attention to detailed features of each study and describes the steps of a systematic approach to synthesis. (SK)

The six articles of this issue discuss the place of meta-analysis in the health professions and present two state-of-the-art meta-analyses using a variety of innovative methodologies, statistics, and secondary analytic procedures. A survey conducted for this issue and its sequel explores interventions to facilitate meta-analysis. (SLD)

To maximize knowledge from existing studies and to determine how job satisfaction constructs have been operationalized in the field of educational administration over the last quarter century, reliable and valid procedures must be developed to synthesize findings from the studies empirically. This study synthesizes empirical findings on job…

In order to "cut through the jargon of the multifaceted field of evaluative research", 21 evaluation models representing a range of possibilities were identified (via literature review) and compared in terms of purpose and five basic phases applicable to rural development. Evaluation was defined as "the systematic examination of a…

To counterbalance research emphasis on conventional forms of political participation such as voting, discussing politics, and donating campaign money, the paper presents data from a crossnational study, conducted in 1974, of unconventional as well as conventional participation. "Unconventional participation" is interpreted as including…