In this study, the ability of test development staff to predict the difficulty of analogy items was explored. The nature of the item attributes that contributed to test writers' predictions of difficulty as well as actual item difficulty was also investigated. The two expert test writers studied were quite good at predicting item difficulty. Item…

The sameness of and difference between autobiographical and biographical research methods were studied in this exploration of the researcher's work with six recent female immigrants to Canada, herself and her mother included. The self-study of autobiography and the biographical study of the researcher's mother and four other subjects were similar…

This paper examines the teacher research process from two points of view: that of a university-based researcher and that of a school-based classroom researcher. Speaking from the experience of engaging in research from both perspectives, the paper presents six reflections on teacher research that describe the special nature of inquiry as conducted…

A new paradigm of educational research is presented that is grounded in the living educational theories that educational action researchers produce for their own professional learning. In this new paradigm there is no one theoretical framework. Each individual action researcher is creating his or her own living theory in the explanations for their…

How nursing science researchers conducting mixed method triangulation are using the heterogeneity of irrelevancy assumption in practice was studied. Seven questions were developed to reflect the implications for practice of the heterogeneity assumption. Answers to these questions were obtained from 23 written cases (14 articles, 1 presentation,…

Problems inherent in relying solely on statistical significance testing as a means of data interpretation are reviewed. The biggest problem with statistical significance testing is that researchers have used the results of this testing to ascribe importance or meaning to their studies where such meaning often does not exist. Often researchers…

A study examined secondary scholastic journalism researchers' current and past experiences in scholastic journalism, their professional affiliations, their current responsibilities, their reasons for conducting research, their current collaborative research efforts, and their desire for future collaborative efforts. Fifty-five of the 86 members of…

The methodological issues associated with life-history research are explored from the perspectives of researcher and teacher of qualitative research methods, and from the perspective of a participant in a life-history study. The author illustrates with her own experiences how different research can look from both sides of the microphone and how…

Research and development related to educational problems, teacher training, and researcher training are the principal activities of the Department of Educational and Psychological Research at the Malmo School of Education, University of Lund, Sweden. Research areas include: subject matter research; teacher and personnel research; adult education;…

Current educational instability requires the educational researcher to become an historical actor offering advice for change and innovation rather than merely a neutral actor. (ND)

Greatly modifying the present medical curriculum for the future physician-scientist is not recommended. The value of his having a PhD is questioned and the importance of his working in a hospital-based clinical department is stressed. The author contends that emphasizing the interrelationship between basic and applied research will increase public…

This paper questions whether relationships between teachers and researchers can in fact be called collaborative. It is asserted that they are collaborative in only the generic sense of the term and do not meet the specifications denoted in the paper for equitable collaborations. Examples of innovative types of relationships in which university…

The results of a national survey of sociologists indicate that over sixty percent commit most of their time to teaching. However, there is an inverse relationship between the prestige of a graduate department and the percentage of department members who consider teaching to be their primary work activity. (Author/DE)

Objectives, procedures, and results of a three-year project, a visiting consultant program for research utilization, are reviewed. Major components of the study included development of state plans for consultation based on identified need and an evaluation strategy to assess correlates of success of consultation efforts. (Author)

Teststhe hypothesis that in the context of a large health science center heavily committed to scientific activity, there would be a positive relationship between the scientific productivity of faculty and their effectiveness as teachers. The results indicate that research activity is supportive of effective teaching. (Editor/PG)