Five symposium papers evaluate the usefulness of ideas associated with the life-span view for enriching, highlighting, or expanding issues, theory, and research pertinent to change processes during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and for intervention programs during these periods. (Author/MP)

Provides a detailed introduction to the variety of purposes for which evaluation research may be used and to the range of methods currently employed in the practice of that field. Uses specific examples, where appropriate, to provide concrete illustrations of both the goals of evaluation researchers and the methods used. (Author)

Presents an overview of an approach in training Black masters-level students in research, with emphasis on research design, data collection, data analysis, and computer usage. (JCD)

Describes major areas of progress in organization development (OD): progress in operationalizing the concept of change; progress in improving measurement; and progress in designing statistical procedures used to analyze OD intervention data. Suggests recent research developments point to a more solid base on which to build OD practice and theory.…

Addresses a number of ethical and methodological issues related to research involving vulnerable populations such as the frail elderly, when the research design calls for a control or nonintervention group. Techniques are presented for building a "limited" service component into the research design. (Author)

Outlines recent job-stress research indicating the impact of psychosocial stressors on employees. Presents four suggestions to broaden the job-stress research while keeping the psychosocial emphasis. Recommends that research be integrated with stress-management programs and suggests specific research designs for the evaluation of such programs.…

The Rasch model was used to equate reading comprehension tests of widely different difficulty for three groups of fifth grade students of widely different ability. Under these extreme circumstances, the Rasch model equating was unsatisfactory. (Author/CTM)

With even the simplest bivariate regression, least-squares solutions are inappropriate unless one assumes a priori that reciprocal effects are absent, or at least implausible. While this discussion is limited to bivariate regression, the issues apply equally to multivariate regression, including stepwise regression. (Author/CTM)

Reviews research studies on note-taking and identifies possible questions for future research in that area. A case is made for the inclusion of such studies within the domain of educational technology research. A 49 item bibliography is attached. (MER)

The authors' thesis is that educational research responds to external social and policy events rather than creates them. They attempt to forecast external developments in Scotland which will affect research and highlight the trend toward collaborative research. (SJL)

Thirty-three research articles based on t-tests, F-tests, or Pearson product-moment correlations selected from the "Journal of Medical Education" were examined for adequate research reporting. Nearly one-half did not report sufficient data or were found to have low power values. Guidelines for research reporting are discussed.…

Using grade point average and graduation-nongraduation as two separate criteria and eight predictor variables selected from doctoral applicants' folders at an Arizona university, a canonical correlation of .624 for a sample of 65 graduate students shrank to -.095 for a cross validation sample of 21 students. (CTM)

Design, analysis, and reporting considerations for the application of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) techniques in educational settings are described. Numerous examples are drawn from the national follow through evaluation, and suggestions for improving reports using ANCOVA-type techniques are presented. (Author/BW)

Factors involved in pre-planned and post-planned evaluation of program effectiveness are compared: (1) reliability and cost of data; (2) internal and external validity; (3) obtrusiveness and threat; (4) goal displacement and program direction. A model to help program administrators decide which approach is more appropriate is presented. (Author/MH)

Strasser and Deniston's own analysis (TM 504 254) shows that post-planned evaluations are unsuitable substitutes for pre-planned evaluations. When viewed as post-experimental interviews, however, post-planned evaluations can produce valuable information which complements traditional experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations. (MH)