The paper identifies and addresses four methodological weaknesses common to most previous studies that have used LISREL confirmatory factor analysis to test for the factorial validity and invariance of a single measuring instrument. Specifically, the paper demonstrates the steps involved in: (1) conducting sensitivity analyses to determine a…

This collection of papers examines research methods in geographical education in nine countries. "Research Methods in the History of Geographical Education" (William Marsden, the United Kingdom) examines the methods used and some of the research undertaken in the history of geographical education. "Research Methods in Investigating…

A comparison is presented of alternate-choice and true-false item forms used in an undergraduate natural science course. The alternate-choice item is a modified two-choice multiple-choice item in which the two responses are included within the question stem. This study (1) compared the difficulty level, discrimination level, reliability, and…

A case study of a teacher as a naturalistic inquirer is presented. A class in naturalistic inquiry methods was offered to practicing teachers and other graduate students during a 15-week semester. During the first two or three weeks, students read extensively about qualitative methods and identified a possible site to conduct a study. The…

A new framework for designing qualitative studies is described to optimize the emergence, representation and presentation of insights. The framework, called Reflection Methodology, is presented as a "Conversational Paradigm" that includes four components--interviewer (researcher as participant); child, task situation, and observing…

This two-part report describes a study conducted to investigate the relationship between the community college and its economic environment. Section I provides an introduction to the debate on community college mission, outlines the theoretical framework of the study, reviews the characteristics of the community colleges' economic environment, and…

These proceedings consist of the following presentations and discussion papers: "Extension Research Needs in Evalaution" (Michael Patton); "Needed Research in Program Development" (Roger Lawrence); "The Cooperative Extension Service: A National Assessment" (Paul Warner); "National Study of Extension's Research…

Containing the results of Oregon's second statewide analytical writing assessment, this document summarizes the procedures used to evaluate the writing skills of 4,567 eighth graders from 55 schools and analyzes the results. Following an introduction that includes comments from the scoring team, chapter 1 presents a brief history of writing…

Types of planning and evaluation information already being gathered by the Office for Student Affairs (OSA), University of Minnesota, and recommendations for new efforts in the measurement of the volume of OSA's activities, the costs of OSA services/functions, and quality of OSA programs are examined. It is suggested that planning information in…

Research on instructional improvement interventions for college teachers is reviewed and implications for practice are briefly considered. Attention is directed to both the methodological soundness of the program evaluations and the findings of the studies. Interventions to assist faculty to change their teaching attitudes, roles, or activities…

A meta analysis of 93 research reports on school desegregation and black achievement was conducted to determine (1) why the study results differed as to apparent desegregation effects; and (2) whether some desegregation plans produced greater achievement gains than others. An analysis indicated that inconsistencies in research findings were mainly…

This document reports on a seminar to discuss the role that World Health Organization (WHO) participating centers should play in meeting the priority educational needs of the European Region in specialty training, continuing education, and educational research. The three working papers are summarized, and results of discussion on them are noted.…

Curriculum planners and career educators are advised to review the literature on infusion with this question in mind: "Does the integration of career education into the regular secondary classroom make a difference in student learning of subject matter and career information?" The philosophy and objectives of career education infusion were…

Basic issues concerning interpretive research, and theories and methods of using interpretive research to study teaching are discussed. The concept of interpretive research may also be known as ethnographic, qualitative, participant observational, case study, symbolic interactionist, phenomenological, or constructivist. Interpretive research…

Provided are the papers presented at a conference which served as an international forum on diagnostic and prescriptive mathematics education. They are: (1) "The Evolution of the Research Council for Diagnostic and Prescriptive Mathematics" by Robert Underhill; (2) "The Interaction of Knowledge and Cognitive Processes in Diagnosis…