This occasional paper introduces the methods of research synthesis and meta-analysis to researchers and consumers of research in the field of adult learning and literacy. To begin, the first section of the paper defines key terms and offers a brief history of how the methodologies developed. The second section provides a conceptualization of…

Background/Context: Although the importance of facilitating transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions is almost universally accepted, there is little consensus on how to measure transfer success or evaluate policies aimed at assisting students in making this educational transition. Despite the increasing attention on transfer in…

When the subject of scientific analysis is learning, the research needs to be anchored in various nonmonolithic pillars. Several disciplines require a common ground of convergence. An objective observer of the domain can easily conclude that semantic e-learning brings together the three different worlds of learners, pedagogues and technologists.…

A synthesis is developed to make biodiesel from vegetable oils such as soybean, sunflower, and corn oil, as an exercise in the laboratory. Viscosity measurements were used to gain an understanding of an intermolecular property of the biodiesel and that has limited the implementation of biodiesel on a wide scale basis, solidification at low…

Designed to measure children's abilities to synthesize concepts from several sources, this measure is based on the assumptions that children move from the concrete to the abstract, from specific to generic, and that the ability to synthesize and form new concepts is an important prerequisite to reading comprehension. Each form of the test is…

In order to have freshman composition students review and strengthen their research and documentation skills, they are asked to write 700 to 1,000-word papers synthesizing from sources such as anthologies, journals, government documents, films, biographies, almanacs, and interviews. Three assignments require the students to gather information…

The report reviews results of a project to examine pilot approaches to documenting the contributions of research in improving educational practice. The project abstracted 110 currently funded research projects in progress (to facilitate dissemination to the field), processed final reports of field-initiated and student-initiated research funded by…

In order to investigate the effects of sequence and synthesis in the teaching of taxonomically-related concepts, a study was conducted in which 27 students from Syracuse University were asked to examine printed instructions dealing with kinds of sailboats and then to respond to a test based on those instructions. The synthesizing structure…

Starting from the premise that administrators, program personnel, and social scientists are equally responsible for the conduct of evaluation, this paper addresses the legitimate role of evaluation research via discussion of: (1) the environment in which evaluation takes place; (2) types of evaluation designs; and (3) selection of an evaluation…

Responses derived from 152 of 219 schools and dormitories operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) are presented in this assessment of the Native American Indian Women's Association recommendations considered by the Assistant Area Directors for Education to be immediately implementable. Each report is presented in terms of a code…

Providing current information on the status of the School Management Options Project (involvement by the end of Fiscal Year 1975 of at least one-fourth of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA, schools in a management system chosen by their American Indian clients), this report presents information relative to the BIA's overall strategy for project…

Outlines some strategies that students can follow when beginning a research assignment, especially useful when they are new to the process of research. Draws parallels between some characteristics of group conversations and research, such as originality of conversation and originality of writing/research. (NKA)

The first of 10 papers providing a state of the art of research synthesis in special education, the introduction/overview stresses the importance of applying scientific techniques and standards to the evaluation and summarization of substantive research findings. (DB)

The paper proposes a statistical methodology for synthesizing single-subject research in special education. A regression model that can be used to generate effect sizes for both changes in slope and changes in level occuring as a result of the treatment intervention is outlined. (Author/DB)