Reviews elements of traditional scientific method and trends among Native American and other scholars to include intuitive, spiritual, and personal categories of understanding. Suggests four areas of focus to evaluate the new scholarship: importance of the research, integrity of the process, explanation of the methodology, and acknowledgment of…

Describes the community-based research approach of Barbara Bowman, a non-Indian studying psychological issues at Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. Reviews tribal-researcher relations at the reservation and discusses tribal requirements for research, including approval of the study, tribal ownership of the data, and formal presentations of…

Compares 3 research strategies used over the past 25 years involving cooperation among Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the North Carolina Department of Community Colleges, i.e., traditional researcher-dominated strategy, researcher-dominated with limited client involvement, and researcher-client collaborative strategy.…

Reexamines definitions of and explanations for the Hawthorne Effect in research subjects. Notes that the Hawthorne Effect was tested in a study of the effectiveness of paired classroom reading among students. Challenges the notion that subject's behavior is modified by participation in research. Reviews various research studies that question the…

Evidence is presented that strengthens the argument against comparison group research strategies. Results from a study of youth attitudes related to the California Conservation Corps involving 528 participants and 668 comparisons indicate that the comparison group may not adequately represent the nontreatment state. (SLD)

Critiques the attempt by David Pariser and Axel van den Berg to apply the author's methods to a cross-cultural study. Argues that their study is too flawed to be definitive. Suggests means to test the universality of the U-curve as a cognitive development pattern or an artifact of culturally defined aesthetics. (DSK)

Responds to a critique of the authors' work by Jessica Davis. Enumerates and responds to each of Davis' critiques, arguing that many of them are invalid. Defends the research design choices made by the authors and the results of their study. (DSK)

This commentary on a study that found the use of a system of least prompts produced increases in rates of conversations between preschoolers with and without disabilities discusses the benefits of the hierarchical model of intervention that maximizes the usefulness of research to practitioners. (Author/CR)

Presents a developmental framework for the study of culture and cognition in which cultural practice is a key organizing construct. Argues that systematic analysis of either cultural change or cognitive development requires that they be understood relative to one another in a single integrative treatment. (Author/SD)

Describes two science activities concerning water density and shares an idea for combining these activities into a third, completely new activity. Demonstrates the joy of rekindling the spirit of scientific thinking in a typical classroom. (PVD)

Comments on Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck and Connell's study (PS 528 522) which investigated the relationship between elementary school students' beliefs-performance cycles and their perceived control and classroom engagement. Notes methodological and theoretical issues and controversial issues raised by the study. Discusses the links to other…

Considers the competing demands placed on evaluators in relation to the service (characteristics of the intervention), the sample (people participating), and methodology or research design. Explores compromises that may be required between scientific ideals and real-world limitations, and assesses implications for obtaining meaningful results in…

This study demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data: content, cultural models, and narrative analyses. Interview data from 250 Latino parents of young children with mental retardation illustrates these types of analyses. Suggestions for ways in which early intervention studies could be extended by considering different…

This commentary on a previous article that demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data (content, cultural models, and narrative analyses), discusses the need for greater articulation of the complexities of interpretation and a greater emphasis on verification procedures in early intervention qualitative research. (CR)

This article suggests the following emergent and early literacy research priorities: new theoretical accounts of emergent and early literacy; incorporation of recently developed, innovative study designs; and considerations of the brain development in research design. Priorities are also listed for exploring predictor variables and for…