Participatory evaluation is an assessment approach that involves the participants of a study from beginning to end. The evaluation strategy was implemented in a public school district to assess teacher involvement in decisionmaking, determine whether teachers desire more participation, and evaluate the assessment strategy itself. Data were…

Suggestions, based on the experience of researchers at Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Associated Universities (ORAU), are offered on how evaluations in which true experimental designs are not possible can be designed for meaningful comparison. The ORAU conducts evaluation and assessment studies of educational programs intended to explore some aspect of the…

Proceedings are presented from a meeting designed to encourage and assist university-based researchers and public policy-makers in the formation of meaningful, long-term collaborations that would ultimately increase chances of competing successfully for research grants on the efficacy of services and systems of care for children and adolescents…

Problems with conducting randomized field experiments in education are explored. Focus is on problems encountered while evaluating a group of dropout prevention projects. Project planners were asked to manipulate the subject eligibility criteria until they identified as eligible three to four times as many students as they could serve. They were…

Research findings from various countries on the role of schools in student development are reviewed, with an eye toward promoting a comparative model for research on the subject. First, research is discussed that indicates that schools have little or no effect relative to students' home background and individual qualities (the 1966 Coleman report…

Designed to alleviate the confusion caused by the existence of a multiplicity of approaches to writing research, the four parts of this book present explicit discussions of research principles and methods used by researchers actively working within a variety of disciplines. The two chapters in Part 1 describe very broad views of the entire…

This study weighs the validity of current arguments about the efficiency of public versus private schooling by critically examining the research that has compared the expenditures of public and private schools and by questioning common assumptions in the debate. Simple comparisons of per-pupil costs are found to be misleading as indicators of…

Because of changes in the Swedish educational system (including formation of a new upper secondary school), as well as changes in other countries, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is undertaking a new science study to provide evidence for policymaking and for better understanding the…

This paper provides: (1) a statement regarding the political context for energy conservation education programs; (2) a brief description of the types of program efforts reflected in the literature; (3) an overview of the purposes and approaches to energy conservation education program evaluation reflected in available literature; and (4) a…

Methodologies and trends of judicial behavior research (the study of how and why court judges make decisions) are traced from the 1920s to the present. Arranged into five sections, the first two sections of the report identify principal points of social science research in general. A summary of methodology in judicial behavior research reveals…

The aim of the Learning in Science Project is to: (1) investigate science teaching/learning at the Form 1 to 4 level (ages 10 to 14); (2) identify some of the key difficulties in this subject area; and (3) find ways of overcoming such difficulties. The project is seen both as an evaluative and a research project in that it is concerned with…

This final report analyzes results of a comprehensive, integrative review of 273 primary research studies on modifying attitudes toward disabled persons. Attitude modification approaches identified included providing information, direct contact with disabled persons, vicarious experiences related to having a disability, systematic desensitization,…

In 1988, a project was undertaken at Chabot College in California to develop a questionnaire and study methodology for assessing the views of employers regarding the business applications of typewriters and computers. Staff at the college needed this information for curriculum and program planning, as well as for equipment and supply budgeting.…

A two-stage procedure for the analysis of pretest-posttest data was developed and illustrated. Data were reanalyzed from a quasi-experimental evaluation that assessed the effects of an intervention program to teach elementary school children aged 10 to 12 years to watch violence on television more carefully/critically. The treatment group…

The implementation of research design in studies on substance abuse education is discussed in this meta-analysis. Findings indicate that the quality of research design is constrained by negative feedback from evaluation stakeholders. This finding is applied to an evaluation of the Here's Looking at You, 2000 drug education program currently…