A discussion of constructing research designs that avoid the conflict between securing internal validity at the expense of external validity. Several such designs and examples of their application are offered. (HB)

Though models of quality research in education have abounded in the past decade, educational technologists have consistently made the same mistakes in attempting to measure the effects of multimedia approaches to teaching: 1) using a treatment that is not a valid implmentation of theory; 2) inadequate observation; and 3) disguising weak findings…

The major theme is that better and more productive studies could emerge if media research would move out of its traditional either-internal- or-external validity conflict. (Author/MV)

Research on media and technology in education appears in many forms and styles. The results of this research so far has been quite disappointing, in that researchers have failed to point out the difference between research on media and research with media. Research also has tended to become highly specific, thus losing representativeness. A…

Reconstructing media research so that generalizable knowledge can be produced requires an increased emphasis on attributes of media which interact with individual differences to effect learning. In order to accomplish this, media researchers must make a distinction between research "with" media and research "on" media. Privious efforts to…

Research on animated pedagogical agents (agents) is viewed as a very positive attempt to introduce more pedagogical support and motivational elements into multi-media instruction. Yet, existing empirical studies that examine the learning benefits of agents have had very mixed results, largely due to the way that they are designed. This article…

Discussion of research problems in instructional technology emphasizes two main needs: (1) development of a prescriptive research methodology; and (2) more front end analysis that produces a distinction between instructional design research and instructional development research. Two examples of research using the prescriptive technology approach…

This is the most recent in a series of retrospective bibliographies on television and children. It includes an annotated listing of research reviews, position papers, and planning documents entered in the ERIC system in the years 1974-1977. Over 100 documents are listed in 14 categories: helping children to learn from television, new experimental…

A meta-analytic review of all adequately designed field and laboratory research on the use of incentives to motivate performance is reported. Of approximately 600 studies, 45 qualified. The overall average effect of all incentive programs in all work settings and on all work tasks was a 22% gain in performance. Team-directed incentives had a…

The suspected sources of confounding in current meta-analytic studies of computer based instruction (CBI) are uncontrolled effects of instructional method and/or the John Henry Effect (i.e., compensatory rivalry). To determine which confounding is most plausible, a random 30% sample of the 128 studies which formed the original Kulik meta-analyses…