A detailed description is provided of the variable general staff background (GSB), which is part of the analysis in phase I of the Evaluation of Practices in Individualized Schooling. The variable is defined, the questionnaires on which the variable is based are listed; the procedures used to scale the variable are explained; the distribution of…

Members of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) were asked to list specific priorities for research in science education. A total of 101 members, approximately 13% of the NARST membership, responded with a total of 398 statements placed into one of six general research categories: (1) Teacher Education; (2) Science…

What anticipated benefits motivate adults to continue a major learning effort? This study empirically tested a conceptual framework that emphasizes chains of linked benefits from learning. A diagram of this framework was given to 100 adults in Toronto. They were asked to imagine that their total motivation for one of their learning projects was 10…

Because of states' growing roles in education, the study of variation in state educational policies contributes to a better understanding of policy processes and to the prediction of possible policy outcomes. Comparing state educational policies involves choosing variables and analytical designs and defining cases, concepts, and measurement.…

To assess the changing lifestyles, values, and preferences of American youth, measures of drug use, interrelationships among such measures, and their relationships to other variables were investigated in a nationwide survey of 1978 high school seniors. Students reported their use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and 10 other categories of drugs…

The paper consists of a review of 24 studies on mental retardation published in two Soviet journals between 1970 and 1980. An introductory section focuses on the theoretical framework for mental retardation research in the Soviet Union with a differentiation between oligophrenics (who have organic brain damage) and the intellectually backward (or…

Psychological studies on personality characteristics obtained from individuals prior to being diagnosed as alcoholics are reviewed. Retrospective studies suggesting an association between childhood anti-social behavior and the subsequent problem of alcoholism are presented, supported by studies of the personality inventories of college students…

Provided is an examination of the methodology used to study the problems of learning addition and subtraction skills used by developmental researchers. The report has sections on categories of theory and their methodologies, which review: (1) Behaviorist, Neo-Behaviorist and Piagetian Theories; (2) the Behaviorist and Piagetian Paradigms; (3)…

These technical appendices are bound separately from the report "Strategies for Knowledge Use and School Improvement" which evaluates the National Institute of Education's Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program. Appendix A contains a preliminary report on the statistical quality of the quantitative data, focusing primarily on…

Many factors influence the comprehension of a linguistic act by a listener or reader. Some, such as maturity, background, and interests of the decoder are nonlinguistic; others, such as the vocabulary and complexity of the morphological and syntactical structures are linguistic in nature. A review of the literature reveals that while studies have…

A study was made to identify needs and barriers related to the mainstreaming approach and to assess attitudes of secondary principals and occupational education teachers toward mainstreaming and their perceptions of needs and barriers. The design of the project involved a three-phase research effort. The first phase utilized the Delphi Technique…

This is the first of a two-part report on a study examining the relationship between effective school-community relations and student achievement. The research represents a case study of the school-community relations program of an inner-city school serving a population of 628 black students. An interview protocol was developed to gather the…

A number of sample inventories were conducted to measure the effectiveness of the Tattle-Tape book detection systems used in the Moffitt Undergraduate Library and the General Reference Services area of Doe Library, and to establish baseline data for missing materials in four branch libraries (Education-Psychology, Engineering, Environmental…

This impact study for a series of Out of School Television (OSTV--Tele Pour Tous) broadcasts on village water supplies presents a qualitative examination of some of the problems encountered in the organization of viewing groups in four selected villages. The research techniques used included questionnaires and feedback sheets on demographics, the…

Empiricists may be defined as naive fumblers, people who collect and analyze data in the absence of a guiding theory. A theory may be defined as an empirically verifiable explanation of phenomena that predicts behavior. Empirical research may be defined as scholarship that is public and is performed using entities measured in units that can be…