In reaction to the 1977 Survey of the American Professoriate by Everett C. Ladd and Seymour Martin Lipset, Serge Lang began a file of letters expressing concern over and opposition to the study. The controversy began when Lang wrote a letter to the researchers expressing his opposition, with copies to members of the academic community,…

This article assimilates and critically reviews 10 reports between 1960 and 1980 in which hypnosis was used with non-retarded children, aged 6 to 17, who had learning problems. Studies are reviewed in terms of the major deficit focused on by the researchers, i.e., reading deficits, self-concept and academic achievement, academic behavior problems,…

How various methodological decisions may influence studies of the effect of time-on-task on achievement are examined. Subjects were students in grades 2-5 in 18 classes taught by 12 teachers in a rural Maryland school district. All students were pre-tested in February 1978 in reading, language arts, math and social studies using the Comprehensive…

Computer generated data are used to show that Slinde and Linn's criticism of the usefulness of the Rasch model for equating (EJ 189 585) may have been the result of an artifact produced by the manner in which the samples were chosen in their study. (CTM)

Tracking and two statistical methods (probability weighting and sample selection modeling) were studied as ways to minimize bias attributable to sample attrition in school-based studies. Data on student smoking from 30 middle schools illustrate that sample weighting yields the best results, with estimates superior to sample selection and much less…

This study found that accuracy in predicting the out-of-home placement of children with severe disabilities increased little in a large cross-sectional sample (n=5,992) over a smaller semilongitudinal sample (n=141). Factors such as age, adaptive and maladaptive behavior, and ethnicity are discussed. (Author/JDD)

This article is the first of a research methods series dedicated to getting good results from survey research. In this series, "good results" is a stenographic term used to define surveys that yield accurate and meaningful information decision makers can use with confidence to identify current practices that merit continuation and to create or…

Abuses and misuses of statistics are frequent. This digest attempts to warn against these in three broad classes of pitfalls: sources of bias, errors of methodology, and misinterpretation of results. Sources of bias are conditions or circumstances that affect the external validity of statistical results. In order for a researcher to make…

To investigate the coping skills and adaptational outcomes among elderly survivors of the holocaust and a comparison group of aged individuals who did not endure extreme stress requires overcoming several methodological challenges. First, stress must be defined to include the personal meaning or evaluation of the sources of stress and its…

Because research synthesis enables one to determine either the overall effectiveness of a particular treatment or the relative effectiveness of different types of treatments, it is becoming increasingly popular as a tool in program evaluation. Numerous methodological problems arise, however, when research synthesis is applied to studies conducted…

In addition to the usual problems of obtaining a representative sample, the family researcher is confronted with the problem of who speaks for the family. Traditionally women have been the informants in family research. To examine the coparental relationship between divorced spouses, data were collected from both former spouses (N=98 couples). The…

The data entry quality control procedures in discrete data entry tasks in the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) Fourth Follow-Up Survey are examined. Direct data entry terminals were used to key survey questionnaire item responses, telephone interview corrections, respondent background information and supplemental questionnaire responses into…

This document provides the description, summary, and evaluation of methodological procedures and results for the field test of the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:96). Chapter 1 describes the background, purposes, and scheduled procedures of the NPSAS:96 and the unique purposes of the field test. The NPSAS is a…

Reviewed published studies (N=36) of an organization development and team building strategy, focusing on research designs, sample sizes, dependent variables, and the length of time the intervention was investigated. Results indicated team building appeared to be an intervention with great potential for improving employee attitudes and…

Too few researchers understand what statistical significance testing does and does not do, and consequently their results are misinterpreted. This Digest explains the concept of statistical significance testing and discusses the meaning of probabilities, the concept of statistical significance, arguments against significance testing,…