A project conducted in Tennessee from 1984 through 1989, Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (Project STAR), serves as a context for a discussion of educational research. The decisions required in major research projects and the problems in carrying out research are seldom discussed in conferences that present research results as completed efforts.…

This paper reviews literature on the adult outcomes for children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). It critiques methodological issues, including diagnostic definitions, research designs, sample characteristics, and assessment instruments. It examines the relationship of AD/HD to a variety of adult disorders and…

Recent classroom-centered research and its implications for the teaching and learning of languages are reviewed in this book. It synthesizes and evaluates critical research about the way student and teacher behaviors affect language learning, and discusses research methods. Chapters explore the following topics: (1) major issues in second language…

The Dallas School Accountability Program is described, and a step-by-step method for determining how well a school performs relative to other schools is presented. The Dallas program is a two-part program. Beginning with criterion-based improvement plans, goal levels are set by determining the discrepancy between the actual and desired levels of…

This paper offers concrete examples from recent policy research about how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined to better address research questions. Using a conceptual framework developed by Rossman and Wilson (1985), later expanded by Greene, Caracelli, and Graham (1989), the paper discusses how the design and analysis phases of…

One of the new measures developed as part of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) program is described. The ACOT project examines the impact of access to educational technology on the kindergarten through grade 12 classroom environments. The new measure is a technology-based classroom observation instrument for documenting the impact of…

This paper addresses questions of validity, textual authority, and the rhetorical handling of the researcher-as-self by examining current thinking on poststructural approaches in the work of Patti Lather and Laurel Richardson. The first section introduces the idea of inquiry validity as an "incitement to discourse," a view which changes…

A survey in education describes the present condition of an educational program and forms the basis for knowing what is happening in a particular school. This volume is intended to be a practical guide to school surveying in South Korea, but not a scholarly thesis on surveys. The emphasis is on field studies and how surveyors can perform a school…

In a relatively small, predominantly undergraduate university, it is often hard to find the time and resources to conduct educational research. One small liberal arts college, the University of Montevallo (Alabama), has addressed this problem by involving undergraduate psychology majors in collaboration in educational research with faculty. It is…

A critical analysis is presented of the literature as it relates to survey research, including personal interviews, telephone interviews, and mail questionnaires. Additional research concerns are explored, and a code of ethics for survey researchers is presented. Focus groups, interviews, long interviews, telephone interviews, and mail surveys are…

Numerous easily accessible databases cover almost every subject area in the humanities. The principal database resources in the humanities are described. There are two major database vendors for humanities information: BRS (Bibliographic Retrieval Services) and DIALOG Information Services, Inc. As an introduction to online searching, this article…

Some methodological issues in the study of levels of knowledge are reviewed, and needs for further research are explored, drawing on an analysis of 12 studies reported since the late 1970s. In the 12 studies, 16 quantitative experiments were conducted. These were assessed for internal and external validity. Analysis revealed some shortcomings in…

University and school-based members of the League of Professional Schools, a collaborative formed to support school renewal, engage in disciplined inquiry on the effects of this school/university collaborative on life in member schools. Essentially, the League conducts action research on action research. The League and its definition of schoolwide…

The increasing use of job training or retraining and employment programs in response to high rates of unemployment in France has spurred interest in program evaluation to see what results have been achieved. The contribution of traditional standardized evaluations and of emerging methodologies is being examined. Traditional evaluation methods…

Several regression methods were examined within the framework of weighted structural regression (WSR), comparing their regression weight stability and score estimation accuracy in the presence of outlier contamination. The methods compared are: (1) ordinary least squares; (2) WSR ridge regression; (3) minimum risk regression; (4) minimum risk 2;…