Coburn and Turner (this issue) present an intriguing framework for understanding how data has come to be used in the current high accountability environments in education. In this framework, they connect various processes of data use within organizational and political contexts. Data use is presented using an ecological perspective that deepens…

This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning using student test results in OECD countries. Initially the report provides an overview of how student test results are reported in OECD countries and how stakeholders in these countries use and perceive of the results. The report then reviews the literature relating to using student test…

Suggests that where institutions such as universities agree with gatekeepers that proposed sensitive and critical research would be inappropriate researchers must create autonomous positions from which to conduct their research. (Author/AM)

It is possible to devise ingenious means for adapting basic methodological techniques to meet exigencies of the research situation while still meeting the requirements for the collection of valid data. (Author/AM)

Asserts that graduate training, as well as the policies of journals and granting agencies, supports an approach to research that promotes scientific understanding but does not produce effective clinical treatment. (Author/JM)

The author examines, in the light of funding problems for Federal agencies supporting educational research, the difficulties inherent in the research process as it now exists, and methods for attacking these difficulties. The thought is presented that only by working on these general problems, will the more specific problem of funding be…

Although substantial efforts have been made in social science research in rural areas, the assembled data often has not been extensively utilized by decision makers. This paper proposes a collaboration between researchers and decision makers and suggests guidelines for enhancing research utilization. (DS)

Researchers are becoming increasingly aware of context variables in interpreting research findings. The Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations (PAEI) Project at the Texas Research and Development Center for Teacher Education has been attempting to identify and conceptualize important research-based and clinical-based context variables. An…

This paper contends that much of what passes as "educational research" has all the appearance, but little of the substance, of scientific research and that the educational community should realize this fact and condemn the imitation, while working to improve scientifically based and conducted projects. Problems in the field center around (1) the…

This article examines research on the teaching process and suggests actions to be taken by researchers and teacher educators to make research more relevant for classroom teachers. (JMK)

Participants in a working conference on changing teacher practice made recommendations for future research. Two broad classes of recommendations were sought: findings from research on teaching most amenable to translation into staff development activities, and how that translation might occur so as to be most useful in bringing about desired…

The Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC) received sponsored research funding to study adult literacy and numeracy, network with field-based stakeholders, and disseminate findings. It studied these three layers of participant involvement and response to the sponsored research program: research leaders; sponsored…

A curriculum project is described which illustrates the use of collaborative inquiry, a cooperative effort between university researchers and educational practitioners. Four tenets of collaborative inquiry are outlined. (1) Researchers and school practitioners work together on all phases of the effort. (2) The effort is focused on real world as…

This document contains 29 papers and 7 roundtable presentations from a Canadian conference on the study of adult education. The following papers are among those included: "Cultivating Knowledge" (Mike Ambach); "Subsistence Learning" (Rose Barg); "Non-Governmental Organizations and Popular Education Programs" (Bijoy P.…