DIALOGUE WAS PRESENTED AT A SYMPOSIUM FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION FOR A SERIES OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND PRACTICE. PARTICIPANTS AND DISCUSSANTS AT THE SYMPOSIUM WERE SCHOLARS IN ANTHROPOLOGY, ECONOMICS, EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT, AND SOCIOLOGY. AUTHORS OF MAJOR PAPERS INCLUDED SOLON KIMBALL, FRED STRODTBECK, ARTHUR ROSS,…

The paper describes a variety of analytical difficulties facing prospective users of the first follow-up of the National Center for Education Statistics National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) and suggests some possible approaches to coping with these. The primary focus is on the causes and consequences of selective…

Discusses the problem of choosing the proper unit (e.g., class or individual student) for the statistical analysis of educational research. Describes a study that was statistically analyzed eight different ways and discusses the various results and implications. Suggests that the problem of selecting the proper experimental unit may be less…

Suggests that because of deficiencies in the statistical analysis and errors of inference, neither the conclusions nor the policy recommencations derived by Coleman are well supported. (Author/AM)

Discussed in this paper are the problems of evaluation research on a program for disadvantaged youth in Israel. (Author/EB)

Reports two experiments analyzing the effects of different types of word misidentification on children's understanding of connected discourse. Results vary depending upon the way comprehension is assessed. (AA)

This article illustrates how social research has moved into the public policy process while retaining the essential characteristics of research. It also shows how concerns about participant confidentiality have interacted with attempts by the General Accounting Office to analyze data. Journal availability: see TM 503 798. (CP)

Demonstrates that in research about prison sentencing different definitions and alternate techniques yield different results. Offers two conceptualizations of the sentencing decision and then applies either discriminate or multivariate analysis accordingly. Concludes that such definitions shape the research question, direct the focus of inquiry,…

Notes problems caused by untrained persons and excavators at archaeological sites and lists contacts for persons interested in working at sites in New York State. When excavations are merely a part of a minor unit, students lack the broader picture gained by a thorough study of the site. (KC)

Numerous researchers have found that drug education programs produce little or no apparent change in students' attitudes. The present paper points out possible reasons for such findings. Suggestions are made for some methodological alternatives, and a study in which such methods were effectively used is discussed. (Author)

Provides a detailed description of an experiment involving a particular method of teaching poetry to a class of high ability boys and draws attention to some common educational research procedures and their attendant problems. (DD)

This article discusses the ethical issues involved in research on human "in vitro" fertilization, laboratory experimentation with human embryos, and the intrauterine transfer of such embryos for the purpose of assisting human reproduction. (Author/MC)

In examining the concept "rural" and the rural sociologist's perspective towards the world, it is concluded that the concept "rural" is poorly understood for the purpose of "normal science," and that the world should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than stable fact. (KR)

Describes changes to be made in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) system of peer review approving grants for research proposals. (SL)

If social scientists are to offer useful insights into schooling, the nature of schools as sociological environments needs to be examined. Statistical effects are not the same as social causality and explaining statistical variance is not sociological explanation. (Author/AM)