Meta-analysis does not solve all the problems encountered in qualitative research reviews, but it holds out some hope for increasing the reliability and dependability of a reviewer's conclusions. Several developments in meta-analysis are cause for optimism. First, different meta-analysts are doing work in the same areas, leading to increased…

The purpose of this paper is to summarize some of the author's logical and empirical reflections on the practice of using naturalistic techniques to conduct evaluations. The main assertion to be supported by these reflections is that naturalistic evaluation is possible and in some cases powerful. This assertion is supported through a review of (1)…

The most important problem in psychology and the social sciences today is the failure to produce cumulative knowledge. This situation has led many to conclude that cumulative knowledge and general principles and theories may be impossible to establish in psychology, a conclusion suggesting that psychology can never be a science--only at best a…

An analysis of four foundational issues in the study of moral development is provided. The four issues involve: (1) the definition of morality; (2) individual or cultural moral variation; (3) moral ontogeny; and (4) moral epistemology. The first section of the paper describes each issue. The second section is based on the argument that the four…

This paper discusses different approaches used by researchers to acquire a comprehensive picture of what family life is like when one of the family members is handicapped. Researchers must determine the best time to get a "true" picture of what family life is like and must determine whether parents describe the true family situation or react to…

Too often researchers rely upon the classical normal theory parametric tests to analyze non-normal data, even though the tests may not be robust to violations of that assumption. Fligner's class of two-sample tests for scale is an important development because the test is distribution-free and has desirable properties. This paper outlines the…

Discusses some problems encountered in doing cross-cultural research and reports on the approaches used to solve the difficulties. (HMV)

Math modeling is currently at the focus of educational methodologists' attention. However, little is known about the extent to which principles of the math modeling lead to methodological fallacies in educational research. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and principles of math modeling and to examine its application in…

Energy storage, considered by some scientists to be the best technological and economic advancement after advanced nuclear power, still rates only modest funding for research concerning the development of advanced technologies. (PEB)

Attempts to account for discrepancies between results of the Hall and Kingsley experiment (1968), (in which the majority of college students did not resist extinction in a contrived instance of non-conservation of weight), and the Miller, Schwartz and Stewart experiment (1973), (in which the majority did resist extinction). (ED)

This analysis defines the current crisis as not unique but developing over the past 3 or 4 decades. The individual elements of the crisis, its sources, potential magnitude and consequences, are integrated into a comprehensive view of the future of higher education research sectors. (Author/PG)

Presents four studies of concept identification behavior in first graders and kindergarten children under the blocking paradigm as implemented within a multidimensional discrimination task. While blocking was observed in children's learning, the data indicate the need for more sensitive and individualized measures of stimulus control in future…

Several issues related to conducting ethnographic research in schools are explored under 4 criterion headings: 1) appropriateness of the problem; 2) appropriateness of the ethnographer; 3) appropriateness of the research "climate"; and 4) appropriateness of expectations for the completed study. (AUTHOR/NQ)