This article describes four single-subject research designs comparing two or more interventions with young disabled children--the multitreatment design, alternating treatments design, adapted alternating treatments design, and parallel treatments design. Problems in using these designs include multitreatment interference, nonreversibility of some…

This letter points out flaws in van der Lely and Howard's argument that children with specific language impairments have no deficits in verbal short-term memory. The original methodology is faulted for providing uninterpretable assessment of verbal short-term functions and for failure to follow memory techniques from previous studies. Sample…

Responding to critique of "The Economic Consequences of State Lotteries" (Praeger, 1991), coauthor praises reviewers' analysis and deplores their harsh criticism. Income coefficient used is justifiable, since, in Florida, number of children attending state-funded schools is positively associated with income. Would have received even…

The entire thesis of "The Bell Curve" disintegrates due to biased use of data, misrepresentations, and logical inconsistencies. Five basic flaws are: inferring causality from correlation, use of dubious racial categories, contradictory arguments concerning the immutability of cognitive ability and the relative contributions of heredity…

Comments on some methodological limitations of the research base of "The Bell Curve": blind use of the normal distribution (bell curve); avoidance of nonnormal statistical distributions, which are more appropriate for some social and economic characteristics; copious use of percentiles and quintiles, inappropriate with nonnormal…

Three types of methodological issues particularly salient in research involving the assessment of substance use or abuse are discussed with strategies for avoiding problems: (1) the reliability and validity of methods; (2) the variability and episodic course of substance use; and (3) the heterogeneity of individuals with substance use disorders.…

Discusses what makes business communication research interdisciplinary and why interdisciplinary research is difficult yet desirable. Details the value of interdisciplinary concepts, methods, and perspectives. Notes how business communication research might be made interdisciplinary and points out the need for tolerance in interdisciplinary…

Responds to an article is this issue regarding the challenge of interdisciplinary research in business communication. Maintains that business communication currently has individual research projects from various perspectives rather than true interdisciplinary research. Argues that researchers simply bring their own disciplinary training to the…

The 1992 American Association on Mental Retardation definition of mental retardation is critiqued. The definition is seen as lacking precision and necessitating identification dependent upon assessment of behavioral dimensions for which there are no reliable measurement instruments. These problems, which are attributed to advocacy concerns, are…

Three criticisms of family-centered models of early intervention for individuals with disabilities are put forth: the definition of family is indeterminate; early interventionists bring their own conceptions of the meaning of family to their work; and empirical research about family processes and their relationship to individuals' development is…

Contends article by K. Smith, V. Reina, and C. Brainerd in same "Kappan" issue demeans author's own evidence based on many years of observing actual children; research preferred by reading skills proponents is derived from experimental situations under manipulative conditions. Context is everything, and teacher's role is central. Evaluating all…

Excoriates Gerald Bracey's "broadsides" against the author's own article in same "Educational Leadership" issue for misinterpreting his conclusions and methodology. Stevenson's learning gap results did not oversimplify ability-effort relationship in U.S. and Asian students; results were similar for U.S. cities with both large…

Reviews the literature on the effect of prior knowledge and text familiarity on document comprehension and usability. Discusses current methods for assessing subjects' topic familiarity. Presents an empirically based method for effectively assessing topic familiarity. Explains that the method includes use of two subject groups and reliance on…

Six articles about evaluating information retrieval (IR) systems and methods are briefly described in this introduction to a special issue and some of the major problems that are encountered in evaluating interactive information retrieval are considered. (two references) (LAE)

Discusses the history of information science and its understanding of and approach to relevance; explains human categorization theory and applies it to the idea of relevance; shows that information science research is flawed because it fails to adequately explain experience; and suggests implications for future research. (17 references) (LRW)