Research within and across cultures is depicted in four case studies: a black woman interviewing black women, Asian students in the United States interviewing people back home, an African professor and African businesswomen, and a cross-cultural team studying aging in a non-Western culture. Insider/outsider status of researchers is described in…

Examines research currently being conducted by some stakeholders in the name of valid distance learning research. Asserts that such research essentially repeats the mistakes of prior media studies that use the long-discredited media comparison approach (which compares distance courses with traditional campus-based courses). (EV)

Presents an overview of the concepts and methods employed by outcome researchers evaluating intervention effectiveness in child welfare, and the problems associated with these methods that make their use by agencies impractical. Discusses concepts of statistical significance, effect size, and the meaningfulness of effects. Emphasizes the need for…

An experiment is described which uses a real-world sample of lawn fertilizer in a simple exercise to illustrate problems associated with the sampling step of a chemical analysis. A mixed-particle fertilizer containing discrete particles of iron oxide (magnetite, Fe[subscript 3]O[subscript 4]) mixed with other particles provides an excellent…

This document contains 53 plenary and contributed papers presented at the eighth Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) meeting. Two plenary addresses focused on mathematics research in Australia and Japan, and problem solving and symbolism. Contributed papers were classified under 13 headings including: teaching and learning theory; cognition;…

The effects of humorous test questions on test performance of high and low-anxious college students was investigated. It was hypothesized that humor should reduce the anxiety level of high-anxious subjects, and thus improve their performance, while having little effect on low-anxious subjects. Students were assigned to a low or high-anxious group…

This pamphlet includes several program transcripts on educational research from the National Public Radio series, Options in Education. Dr. Harold Hodgkinson, former Director of the National Institute of Education, and Noel Epstein, Education Editor of the Washington Post, discuss "The Quality of Media Reporting on Education" and whether…

The major objectives in the establishment of a clinic in a department of psychology are to provide a setting for clinical training and for clinical research. Five issues must be considered in order to evaluate a departmental clinic effectively. First, there should be prior specification of objectives and periodic restatement of goals that include…

This paper examines research concerned with the definition, development, and effects of curriculum. Ten aspects of current curriculum scholarship are examined. The first three (the state of the field, the scope of the field, and the revolt against scientism and rationality) concern curriculum study as a whole. Despite the assessment that the field…

This study of the federal government's evaluation of social programs indicates that it is virtually impossible to establish a bias-free, valid, and reliable system of inquiry to determine the effects of social programs. Divided into five chapters, the document examines the aspirations and limitations of evaluations, methodology, evaluation in the…

ALTHOUGH THE HUMANITIES ARE EXPERIENCING IN THIS COUNTRY AN UNPRECEDENTED EXPANSION AND INCREASE IN NUMBER OF DEGREES GRANTED AND IN FINANCIAL SUPPORT, THEY HAVE SUFFERED A RELATIVE DECLINE IN STUDENT ENROLLMENT, FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND STUDENT QUALITY WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER AREAS OF STUDY. THIS PLIGHT OF THE HUMANITIES STEMS FROM A "METHODOLOGICAL…

These abridged proceedings of the conference on "Languages for Special Purposes" define and clarify organizational and linguistic difficulties arising in the provision of "service" courses in England and encourage coordination of existing research and development. Four major areas are presented: (1) D.C. Kiddy and W. Grauberg…

Volume 4 of an annual series, this issue focuses chiefly on a variety of perspectives relating to cross-cultural research. The major article is comprised of 15 topics encompassing cognitive and affective aspects of culture contact, language and communication, and culture exchange. The topics address Japanese perceptions of foreigners, learning of…

The word "underclass" has become popular, but it is nebulously defined. The focus of discussions on the underclass is not on economics but behavior. The poor are scapegoats for drug problems and the crime rate. The concept of "underclass" ignores the conflict between the dynamic of tokenism and the reality of capitalism. (BJV)

This paper details the origins of the media comparison study methodology, its current use as an evaluation instrument in distance education, and recommendations for more stringent discrimination between research and evaluation in the field of distance learning. The following topics are discussed: (1) the history of research in instructional…