Research-practice partnerships often face a fundamental tension: well-designed, high-quality research takes time, but practitioners and policy makers need answers to pressing questions as soon as possible. In this article, Jason Sachs, Meghan McCormick, JoAnn Hsueh, and Catherine Snow discuss this mismatch between the tight timelines of…

This paper argues that communication researchers could benefit from incorporating a rules approach as a supplement to more traditional methods of organizational analysis. Two major flaws in the methodology of traditional organizational analysis are noted: failing to account for actor or participant meanings--how the actor interprets relationships,…

Reviews models commonly used in psychological research, and, particularly, in organizational decision making. An alternative model of organizational decision making is suggested. The model, referred to as the garbage can model, describes a process in which members of an organization collect the problems and solutions they generate by dumping them…

Presents a concentric research design model based on need for research which transcends individuals' historic or experiential bias concerning choice of study design, tools, and data reduction strategies. Describes the following "rings": theory/knowledge orientation; theory versus applied research; quantitative versus qualitative research…

Methodologies and trends of judicial behavior research (the study of how and why court judges make decisions) are traced from the 1920s to the present. Arranged into five sections, the first two sections of the report identify principal points of social science research in general. A summary of methodology in judicial behavior research reveals…

A major problem in mainstreaming and implementation of Public Law 94-142 has been in establishing evaluation criteria to determine appropriate learning environment placement. Providing appropriate education in the least restrictive environment is primarily the classroom teacher's responsibility, requiring decision-making based on these questions:…

Classroom teachers need to make sound judgments and decisions concerning curricular and instructional issues. The teachers who wish to become more effective in the classroom should learn to develop their own research designs since educational research reported in journals is often inconclusive, conflicting, or not relevant to the classroom…