Criticizes the methodology of a questionnaire-based study that found a discrepancy between the beliefs of sexually active adolescents about condoms and their use of condoms. Discusses six methodological problems in the study to demonstrate how the overly simplified treatment of complex behavior can lead to invalid conclusions. (FMW)

Describes an assignment in which students write a short memo report analyzing and comparing both what a company says in its annual report and what its balance sheet shows. Describes four simple mathematical formulas students can use to quickly diagnose a company's financial health. Appends a sample of the short report format. (RS)

Self-report measures of physical activity have attractive features for epidemiologists and behavior change specialists. An information processing model is proposed to understand the encoding, storage, and retrieval processes, and to identify necessary skills for accurate self-reporting identified at each step in the process. (JD)

This editorial introduces the special edition of "The Journal of Educational Administration" that focuses on stress among school administrators. A commonly accepted four-stage stress cycle is posited to organize, synthesize, and contrast the findings. (TE)

Debates whether a text claiming to have scientific value is using seduction irresponsibly at the expense of the truth, and discusses who is the subject and who is the object of such seduction. It argues that, rather than being an assault against scientific ethics, seduction is a necessary premise for a sensible conversation to take place. (GR)

Suggests that the report for decision making shares some common ground with the proposal, the report of scientific experiment, and the persuasive essay, yet these genres differ. Argues that recognizing these differences is necessary for effective inquiry, pedagogy, and decision making. Claims that complex problems for decision making require a…

This statement of the National Institute of Mental Health Editors' Consortium discourages piecemeal publication of small amounts of data from the same study, requires study authors to inform editors about other manuscripts from the same study, and requires authors to submit copies of closely related manuscripts. (JDD)

Discusses the challenges of research writing and presents techniques for writers to follow that will aid in making their research writing readable and understandable for the intended audience. Suggestions include questions to address, and tips, hints, and reminders to improve writing skills. (JMV)

Introduces a special invited issue of this journal which presents four articles characterizing research in the field of classroom and school learning environments. One article illustrates a typical research study; and the others examine the development, validity, and use of learning environment instruments. A list of 65 references is included. (SM)

How policy is developed and how evaluators can participate in the process are discussed, focusing on federal evaluators. The strongest weapon of an evaluator is a short, easy-to-read report with a simple, compelling message. Federal policy evaluators must learn to be content with slow gains. (SLD)

This study investigated trends in the number and types of research articles published in selected special education journals in 1968, 1977, and 1986. Approximately half of the articles were not data based. Qualitative research accounted for about 6 percent of the research. Relatively stable rates of quantitative and qualitative research were found…

Reviews the literature on Bradford's law (i.e., an empirical relationship describing the distribution of scholarly articles in relevant journals). A model for the distribution of articles, based on random partitioning, is presented; and a mathematical formulation for a law of scattering is derived. The relationship of the model to Bradford's law…

This article presents a rationale for improving descriptions of samples of persons with learning disabilities in research reports. Guidelines resulting from a working conference of journal editors in the field of learning disabilities are presented. The guidelines aim to allow for study-to-study comparisons and actual replications. (JDD)

Fifteen deaf and 11 hearing children (ages 8-10) witnessed slides depicting a wallet theft and were interviewed using a free recall approach followed by increasingly directive questions. Although accuracy of the two groups did not differ in free recall, deaf children provided less accurate responses to directive questions, whereas accuracy of the…

Reported is a study of types of errors exhibited by students of intermediate algebra at the college level and the effect the time of day instruction has on students' performance. Results indicated that two types of errors, conceptual and prerequisite, and that student performance is better in the morning. (MDH)