Reorganization of data from a 1986 study of home care client placement for the elderly (N=18) allowed for user-specific reports to a variety of interested groups in the affected community. The techniques used to adapt and present the data are outlined. A short bibliography is appended. (TJH)

Investigated the quality of spontaneous play with sticks, nuts, and bolts in 18 children aged 44 months and the effects of this on a subsequent problem whose solution required 2 sticks to be bolted together. Children who discovered the elongation principle during play were better problem solvers than those who had not. (RJC)

Describes assessment strategies for individuals with disabilities: direct observation, sociometric measurements, attitude assessment instruments, probes, and expressive attitude assessment techniques. Suggests that the assessment strategy selected is dependent upon the aspect of attitudes to be examined. Suggests multimethod strategies based upon…

A group of Maine birdwatchers recognizes that the presence or absence of migrating songbirds is related to complex biospheric patterns. For schoolchildren, community groups, and environmental scientists, such local natural history observations can be a pathway to perceiving and understanding global ecological change and then to developing…

Despite hopes and claims about benefits of computer-assisted language learning, few studies have documented actual cases about how American students learn elementary Chinese in a computer-equipped classroom. This paper deals with how to use computer as an educational tool to develop American students' Chinese language skills. The theoretical…

University-workplace partnerships are strategies increasingly called for in higher education. This article reports on collaborative knowledge production between employed professional chemical engineers (registered for higher degrees) and their university-based supervisors (researchers in the field of chemical engineering). The study draws on a…

Children with autism often have difficulty successfully applying newly acquired skills to novel situations. Naturalistic teaching procedures have been developed to help address this problem with generalization. These naturalistic procedures promote generalization through the use of natural consequences, diverse training, and the incorporation of…

While peer observation of teaching is regarded as an important part of a faculty member's promotion and tenure portfolio, little has been reported on its usefulness. Results from this study indicate that both observers and observees value the peer observation process, are neutral about the adequacy of observer training, use a variety of…

This paper argues that while organizational research includes a diverse array of naturalistic approaches, a gap exists in the organizational literature that can only be filled by the ethnography of communication (EC). The paper proposes that, instead of using speech to do qualitative research, speech itself should be studied as the topic of…

This study examined children's attention to formal features and other attributes during television viewing. Subjects were 40 children, ages 2, 5, 8 and 11 years old, who were videotaped watching television at home during a 10-day period. Among other attributes, children's visual attention to television was coded, along with television program…

A naturalistic study of 112 families in two parks examined proximity and touching between family members as a function of age and sex of child, sex of parent, and family composition variables. Mothers and fathers were strikingly similar in their behavior. Distance from parent increased and touching decreased as age of child increased from the…

Learning to read and write music should be as natural as learning to read and write the English language. Similar instructional models can be used for both. This was the premise for the investigation of 5-year-old Joel's musical development. Joel was the youngest of a four-member musical family. He was surrounded by musical literature and role…

The paper describes a naturalistic evaluation study of an enrichment program for gifted learners in Newfoundland. The pull-out program (for two half days out of six) is described in terms of audience concerns and issues, standards, program components, and data-generating techniques (observations and interviews). The evaluation led to a report…

This study examines the relationship between societal forces and school computer use in the context of two issues surrounding computer technology: computer property and computer privacy. Four types of data were collected from district administrators, principals, computer teachers, and students over a 9-month period in a high school with a broad,…

This preliminary report of a project in progress--the creation of an alternate research guide for educational technology--begins by noting the influence of early ties to behavioral psychology and systems theory on research in the field and recent recommendations by researchers and scholars that the field be broadened to include such…