Fred N. Kerlinger has been hailed as having contributed to the transformation of the way that behavioral scientists and educators read research reports, design and execute research, and draw conclusions about research. In 1960 he introduced the notion that educational research is fraught with mythology. Three of the research myths that he…

Action research is an approach to professional development and improved student learning in which teachers systematically reflect on their work, seek feedback from colleagues, and make changes in their practice. Several benefits of action research have been cited: (1) teachers investigate their own practice in a new way, looking at what children…

This digest offers tips on designing questionnaires and on avoiding common design errors. The following useful suggestions are offered: (1) keep the questionnaire brief and concise; (2) get feedback on the initial list of questions developed; (3) locate personal or confidential questions at the end of the questionnaire; (4) put categories in…

This digest briefly reviews the events that led to the development of the American Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Agenda, the basic assumptions and premises underlying it, and its six priority research areas. In response to pressure from Native organizations and tribes and a subsequent Executive Order, a working group organized by the…

The purpose of second (or foreign) language classroom research is to answer important questions about the learning and teaching of foreign languages. This kind of research collects data from genuine language classrooms or from experimental settings sometimes established to replicate what takes place in the classroom. Classroom research can focus…

This digest makes the case that careful planning of replication can enhance the interpretability of applied research. When results are consistent across several studies, there is a stronger basis for observed relationships than the support that is available within each study by itself, since results that have been replicated are considered more…

This digest discusses the common sections of a research report and highlights frequently made mistakes. At every stage of the research activities, the researchers should think about the eventual research report. The report should be planned to focus on a single important finding or a highly related group of findings. Suggestions are made for the…

Most practitioners and researchers support the educational policy direction of increased parent involvement, but few agree about what constitutes effective involvement. This digest, based on a critical evaluation of over 200 research studies, briefly reviews findings from parent involvement research to date, discusses their validity and utility,…

For student affairs, a professional field heretofore dominated by the positivistic design structure imposed by quantitative research methodology and traditional graduate research courses, an increased utilization of an alternative methodology, the qualitative, would lead to a greatly expanded range of researchable questions. The use of qualitative…

This digest reviews the basic building blocks of a structured interview, points out some of the pitfalls in interviewing, and suggests ways for researchers to avoid these difficulties to produce questions that have the best possibility of generating reliable and accurate data on the topics of interest. The data collection instrument is a document…

The work of the National Research Center on Student Learning (CSL) is described. The CSL, one of 23 national centers funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, is an integral part of the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The CSL conducts interdisciplinary research that…

Case study methods involve an in-depth, longitudinal examination of a single instance or event. They result in an increased understanding of why the instance happened as it did, and are especially well suited for generating, rather than testing, hypotheses. Six types of case studies are discussed, based on the framework of L. Datta (1990). For…

This Digest describes four types of errors in mail surveys and summarizes the ways they can be reduced. Any one of these sources of error can make survey results unacceptable. Sampling error is examined through inferential statistics applied to sample survey results. In general, increasing sample size will decrease sampling error when simple…

The research literature provides important guidance to counselors working to keep abreast of the latest thinking regarding best practices and recently developed counseling tools. The purpose of this digest is to highlight a few errors that seem to recur within the literature, and to provide some helpful references that further explore these…

There are numerous benefits to be gained by the school counselor who chooses to do action-oriented research. Program evaluation and planning are facilitated through the use of measurable student outcomes obtained through action-oriented research. Collaborative research efforts are made possible by data gained through action-oriented research.…