In a previous issue, Lawrence Schweinhart and David Weikart conclude that children who attended a direct-instruction preschool program had significantly greater adult felony arrests than children following the High/Scope or nursery-school curricula. Analysis of research methods suggests improbable links between preschool experience and adult…

Studied national educational datasets in Japan during the post-World War II era. Found that current datasets do not contain questions about family background or rank of school attended that are detailed enough to permit an analysis of the impact of family background on educational attainment. (SLD)

Analyzes and documents classification issues as part of the assessment of data quality in the Common Core of Data (CCD). Focuses on the Public Elementary/Secondary Education Agency Universe Survey. Indicates shortcomings in the definitions used for the CCD. (SLD)

Argues that interpretive ethnography offers a useful avenue for exploring how members of a professional community go about producing and applying specialized written knowledge. Raises the caveat that researchers using the methodology to study professional knowledge-making need to maintain a balance of engagement with and detachment from the…

Schools should adopt reform programs on the basis of research, not ideology, checking for control groups, the number of participating schools, actual results, and independent resources. Two federal programs, the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program and the 1998 Reading Excellence Act, stress adoption of research-based reforms. (MLH)

Compares two meta-analyses of instructional interventions for students with learning disabilities conducted by Gersten and Baker, and Swanson, focusing on issues of grouping and reporting such studies and of treating differing outcome measures. Considers the identification of important instructional components in both meta-analyses. (JPB)

Asserts that findings on whether young infants look longer at incorrect addition and subtraction have been inconsistent or negative. Hypothesizes that imprecise ordinal calculating with very small numbers of objects develops in late infancy and that precise calculating develops in early childhood. (Author/KB)

The social-systems perspective in organizational theory faded because the increasing complexity of social relations hindered determination of an appropriate unit of analysis. Also, the business-school environment in which organizational research occurred discouraged examination of broad social questions, promoted a particular approach to science,…

A discussion of informed consent by human subjects in experimentation presents background on the consent issue, including federal requirements; lists factors that may affect a subject's ability to understand the consent document; and offers suggestions for preparing consent forms to ensure the subject's better comprehension. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the paucity of serious academic research focusing on public broadcasting in the United States and Western Europe, the likely reasons for this, as well as the need to encourage more research. Details scholarly publishing in the 1990s in the field of public broadcasting. (JKP)

Addresses problems associated with conducting research on difficult family topics. Issues examined are personal issues that play a role in research topic selections, problems obtaining Review Board permission to do certain research, emotional problems experienced by researchers and interviewers doing work on loss, and emotional problems of…

Considers the doubts the author has had about the design of an award winning study, focusing especially on a researcher's obligation to help the teachers with whom the researcher is working, even at the risk of jeopardizing a study's design. Traces the way that her engagement with that question has led to her current professional commitments. (SC)

Alan Krueger's reanalyses of Eric Hanushek's school-productivity data show that Hanushek's "money doesn't matter" conclusions (influential in several states' education-finance hearings) have no factual basis. Hanushek excluded Tennessee's student/teacher ratio study (Project STAR). Also, class size is influencing students' success in…

The sources of variability residing in the environment of individuals with autism and the implications for research studies are explored. Recommendations are provided for future research including research focusing on young children, on the methods needed to produce desirable outcomes, on relationships between behaviors, and on specific teaching…

Discusses two issues raised by Underwood et al.: the distinction between indirect and relational forms of aggression, and implications of indirect aggression for definitions of aggression; and the normative view of aggression that indicates that aggressive individuals may be socially skilled. Suggests that both issues lead to the conclusion that…