This paper, a result of a series of meetings of researchers, discusses critical issues related to the conduct of high-quality intervention research in special education using experimental and quasi-experimental designs that compare outcomes for different groups of students. It stresses the need to balance design components that satisfy laboratory…

Uses of quantitative research for studying the relationship between school leadership and educational reform are discussed in this paper. Perceived inadequacies of quantitative methods are that such methods are inadequate for dealing with real-life complex phenomena, and that they require degrees of control that cannot be realistically achieved.…

This exploratory study examined the college search processes of 25 non-traditional adult students at two central New York State community colleges. Using a modified time-line interview, a method developed in communication and information sciences, the researchers found that the college student's choice process was significantly different for the…

This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the public release data for the student component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The general aim of NELS, a continuing long-term project, is to study the educational, vocational, and personal development of students at various grades and the factors that…

Traditional histories of American college composition instruction in the 19th and 20th centuries examine primarily the textbooks used in those courses, then draw conclusions based on the content of those textbooks about the activities and attitudes expressed in the classroom. The canon of composition historiography is lacking in several ways: the…

Since 1988 five evaluations of Federal demonstration programs in education have been implemented that had random-assignment designs to measure program impacts. The implementation of two of these evaluations, the evaluation of the School Dropout Demonstration Assistance Program and that of the Alternative Schools Random Assignment Program, are…

The evaluation plan for New York State's Children and Youth Intensive Case Management (CYICM) Program is described, which was introduced in July 1988. The CYICM Program is a statewide intervention focusing on keeping children with serious emotional disturbances in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their needs. It is a…

The quality of mental health research on Hispanic populations has not kept pace with the quantity, resulting in a poorly integrated body of scientific knowledge. A conceptual framework for clinical service research with Hispanic populations highlights specific goals and orientations, following a hypothetical five-step temporal sequence. Research…

Although most models of connected discourse are strikingly similar in the types of relationships they describe, they are strikingly different in two areas: the unit of analysis and the dimensions on which cohesion versus coherence are described. Common systems for analyzing written text use the sentence, T-unit, clause, or proposition as the unit…

The author argues that unless Kohlberg's theory of moral development can be demonstrated empirically, based on scientific evidence, his ensuing plan for a program of moral education amounts to no more than a systematic program of indoctrination. Kohlberg identifies the moral stage of a person by eliciting from a subject the reasons referred to in…

Instructional technologists have traditionally used the scientific or rationalistic paradigm to study the instructional potential of pictures. Naturalistic and rationalistic inquiry differ in their views of reality and truth, the relationship between the investigator and the subject, the goals of inquiry, and the role of values in inquiry.…

One of the important roles of the community psychologist is that of researcher. To determine how well that role is being fulfilled, and to what extent community psychology research conforms to accepted standards of social scientific endeavor, 621 articles published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) and the Journal of Community…

The purpose of this study is to show that the psychological climate of the classroom has an effect on the learning of students. (Editor)

Article focused on a report of a 10-year evaluation study of the experimental introduction of French into the primary school curriculum. (Author/RK)

Evaluation of school counseling programs has been characterized by an emphasis on experimental, descriptive, and case study approaches. These studies are important in providing output information, but are limited in developing feedback needed while a program is in progress. Recommends counselors use formative approaches to evaluation to generate…