Several criticisms of Bandura's "reciprocal determinism" are offered: the unidirectional causal account works in cases cited by Bandura; Mackie's criticism of Russell's view of causation also applies to Bandura; and "reciprocal determinism" is a misleading expression when stressing person/environment interactions. (Author/BW)

A simplified introduction to path analysis, this article discusses the following: (1) basic rules, assumptions, and procedures; (2) strengths and weaknesses of the technique; (3) special considerations; (4) examples of path analysis in educational research; and (5) guidelines for constructing diagrams. (MCG)

Reviewed behavioral and industrial relations literature on grievances, and raised serious methodological, theoretical, and ethical questions. Given existing threats to traditional grievance systems, basic research, especially program evaluation, on proposed structural and behavior variants of grievance procedures is necessary. (JAC)

Raises questions concerning Skuse's (1984) papers on extreme deprivation in early childhood (Vol. 25). (RH)

Despite much effort by scholars, the definition of play remains a problem. Observers of preschool children tend to rate constructive activities as play; this has implications for play criteria. Types of play recorded may be appreciably affected by the time frame of observations and the use or lack of supplementary interviews. (RH)

Notes the inconsistent findings that characterize research on marital instability and proposes several potential methodological sources of these inconsistencies. Presents an illustrative application to data from two recent national representative probability samples. (JAC)

Research articles that applied quantitative techniques and were published in "Journal of Leisure Research" were examined for methodological adequacy. Suggestions to improve leisure research are offered. (DF)

Discusses Guttman's index of indeterminacy in light of alternative solutions which are equally likely to be correct and alternative solutions for the factor which are not equally likely to be chosen. Offers index which measures a different aspect of the same indeterminacy problem. (ROF)

Summarized are speeches presented at an American Institute of Physics meeting held, October 8-9, 1976, at General Motors Corporation research laboratories, Warren, Michigan. Speeches emphasized industrial research, applications of physics, and frontier areas of physics. (SL)

This paper describes an incident between an academic researcher and a community member. The encounter, in which a researcher asked questions about farming practices, shows how cultural misunderstanding and failure to communicate the gains of research to the community has the potential to generate distorted information. The academic researcher has…

In 2001 the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) put forth guidelines for the ethical treatment of students during research in composition studies, and several scholars have voiced their fears and opinions. This paper cautions that the Guidelines' reliance on Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to protect students may unintentionally…

In the last few years, the focus has evolved from considering an "ethic of research" in composition studies to an "ethic of representation" in person-based research. One of the dominant questions that emerged from this shift is how researchers represent their students and their writings in composition research. What does the…

Discusses some of the problems facing educational researchers of children's literature. (RB)

Presents a number of evaluative schemata appropriate to appraising learning outcomes. (RB)