The paper examined the relationship between epidemiological and intervention research with learning disabled adolescents. Several historical trends and contemporary issues (e.g., the importance of prevention as opposed to treatment efforts, applied versus basic research, continuing questions related to definition and identification, and…

The paper presents an alternative approach to research in learning disabilities among adolescents and young adults. The author proposes that low achieving adolescents labeled "learning disabled" can and should play a role in research efforts in which they are involved. While much research is seen to focus on educational interventions following…

Ethnographers generally allow educational psychology to define research problems, to set limits on what they can study, and to dictate some key theoretical concepts. As a consequence, lacunae in descriptions of complexities in the intellectual lives of children have not been filled in by ethnographers. Problems in the focus and methods of…

The best way to get started in conducting measurement research in creative drama is to understand creative drama as fully as possible in order to discover significant issues that need the kind of clarification that measurement research can provide. A few basic research questions that will help people focus on particular projects in creative drama…

Three issues must be addressed when discussing the standards needed to judge the methodological rigor of naturalistic approaches to administrative research. The first issue involves defining naturalistic inquiry. In contrast to the scientific paradigm, naturalistic inquiry emphasizes, first, the inseparability of variables or events from their…

The study of the role parents play in the reading development of their children requires a methodology that is unobtrusive, humane, objective, and natural. Ethnography, with its corresponding technique of participant observation, offers these characteristics. The distinctive features of an ethnographic research design include: formulation of the…

The act of composing is best described as a set of distinguishable processes that interact. There are four methods for researching these processes: (1) behavior protocols, in which subjects are observed but are not asked to report their thought processes verbally; (2) directed reports, in which subjects are asked to explain how they performed a…

The net result of the social-scientific developments in the 19th and 20th centuries is that educational research has inherited a science that is assumed to constitute a disinterested technology of social engineering and a benevolent source of positive social advance. Unfortunately, the social experiment conducted on traditional lines depends upon…

The monograph defines and discusses single subject research designs in special education. Advantages of this approach with measuring change in handicapped children are noted. Observational techniques (event recording, duration recording, interval recording, and time sampling) are described, along with three types of single subject evaluation…

Noting that in Europe there is a growing criticism of the largely American communication research tradition that focuses on individuals, this paper examines European-style "critical analysis," which looks at social systems. The paper first examines the criticism of American-style "administrative" research, and then discusses…

The paper reviews the state of the art in evaluation research of direct instruction projects with handicapped students. The first section delineates research designs used (including norm referenced comparisons, nonequivalent comparison groups, and quasi experimental designs); major findings; and problems with each. A distinction is made between…

This brief paper presents a sequential walk through a simple research setting--a two group experiment--to indicate common but avoidable design difficulties that may jeopardize the usefulness of the data obtained. The six flaws examined are the failure to select subjects from the population to which generalizations are to be made; failure to use…

PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH IS DISCUSSED AS ONE OF THE BASIC NEEDS OF READING RESEARCH. OTHER NEEDS ARE--(1) FOR BASIC RESEARCH THAT FOCUSES ON THE READING PROCESS, (2) FOR LEADERSHIP THAT VALUES SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVITY AND INTELLECTUAL HONESTY, AND (3) TO INFORM AND CONVINCE THE PUBLIC OF THE POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF READING RESEARCH. PROGRAMMATIC…

IN ADDITION TO AN ANNOTATED LISTING OF RESEARCH PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN AS A RESULT OF THE INSTITUTE, TWO ADDRESSES ARE REPRODUCED. MAURICE L. LITTON REVIEWED THE BASIC STEPS OF PROBLEM SOLVING, DESCRIBED THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN, AND URGED THAT THE RESULTS OF STUDIES BE SHARED WITH OTHERS. IN STRESSING THE VALUE OF USING THE…

This paper provides a review of the literature on the topic of sex roles. The author identifies two levels on which to study this issue: (1) the social identity model and the dramaturgical perspective, which can serve as a unified theoretical framework for phenomena and findings related to sex roles; and (2) a lessening of the terminological and…