Investigates sample size requirements needed to achieve various levels of statistical power using posttest-only, gain-score, and analysis of covariance designs in evaluating training interventions. Results indicate the power to detect true effects differ according to type of design, correlation between pre- and posttest, and size of effect due to…

Sets an agenda for improving instructional research conducted with classical quantitative experimental or quasi-experimental methodology. Includes guidelines regarding the role of a social perspective, adequate conceptual and operational definition, quality instrumentation, control of threats to internal and external validity, and the use of…

The educational system has not been particularly successful in teaching thinking skills. In order to do so, it is necessary to identify what thinking skills are and understand their development. Current research and design of future research are discussed, as is the problem of transfer. (MT)

Attempting to define curriculum inquiry, this study examines published reports of curriculum inquiry and classifies the problems studied, the methods used, and the solutions proposed. (MCG)

Explains the characteristics and importance of random assignment in experimental research on education. Considers factors supporting causal inferences, the nature of "assignment units," differences between random sampling and random assignment, the characteristics of randomization tests, forms of random assignment, and effects of experimental…

Describes elements to look for when reading four identifiable sections of a research report: background and literature review, methodology and procedures, analysis, findings or summary. Literature review as prologue to author's argument, choices in design of a study, research participants, choices involved in analysis, and implications of findings…

Investigators interested in conducting school health research face many challenges. This article focuses on an analysis of research designs and measurement issues that most frequently confront school health researchers. (Author/DF)

The use of large-N group comparison research methods based on a nomothetic model is compared with idiographic methods employing single-system designs and intensive study of the individual. Limitations of the nomothetic model and advantages of the idiographic approach are presented. (SK)

Notes that single-subject designs, developed in clinical settings, are now being used for diagnosis and instruction in the schools. Discusses their importance to the teacher. (FL)

Ethnoarchaeology (living archaeology) centers on the study of present day peoples in order to get a better understanding of the past. Describes a study in Kenya which involved collecting samples from an abandoned fishing campsite and interviewing fishermen who had lived there. Suggests approaches for future research. (CS)

Students critiqued research contained in the book "Rival Hypotheses" (Huck and Sandler, 1979), which contains studies dealing with knowledge claims of practical importance, e.g., the evidence that saccharine causes cancer. (RM)

Computer generated data representative of 16 Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Averages (ARIMA) models were used to compare the results of interrupted time-series analysis using: (1) the known model identification, (2) an assumed (l,0,0) model, and (3) an assumed (3,0,0) model as an approximation to the General Transformation approach. (Author/BW)

Discusses the evolution of the author's research program. Illustrates decisions made in choosing a research topic, discusses complexities of research, and personal triumphs and despairs encountered in the process. Discusses particular research projects and specific models and theoretic frameworks. (BH)

The author argues that he properly used the National Longitudinal Survey sample in his analysis which concluded that private schooling is not superior to public schooling with regard to student's academic achievement, a conclusion contrary to that reached by Coleman and Hoffer in their analysis of the same sample. (RM)

Repeated measures designs have traditionally been analyzed by the univariate mixed model approach, in which the repeated measures effect is tested against an error term based on the subject by treatment interaction. This paper considers an extension of this analysis to designs in which the individual repeated measures are multivariate. (Author/JKS)