Research into teacher evaluation techniques has not provided conclusive answers due to a number of research problems, including the subjectivity of traditional teacher observation techniques and the lack of sensitivity of newer, more objective techniques. A five-year research project in California, the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study (BTES),…

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…

Children's ability to understand the implied messages in indirect speech was investigated using a role play elicitation task. Subjects were asked to complete story endings using puppets for several scenerios involving a mother and her four children. In each of the stories the mother gives an indirect directive which is supposed to get the children…

The uses and restrictions of commonality analysis are described. Commonality analysis has been increasingly used as a method to examine the relative importance of independent variables, through the partitioning of variance among the variables of the regression equation into unique and common components. The effects of all other independent…

This report analyses justifications gathered in a series of studies which led intellectually normal infants' school and nursery school children and mildly mentally retarded special day school children to acquire conservation understanding. Two hundred and five children were given a pretest of number, mass, length, liquid, and weight conservation.…

Problems for the biographical researcher in conducting oral interviews with primary sources are discussed. Successful biographical research using oral history must be thorough and honest. A major problem in getting candid information from primary subjects may occur if quotations touch upon areas considered personal or controversial. Other problems…

Although listening skills are the most utilized of the language arts skills, they are the least analyzed by research. Causes for this neglect include the fact that listening research has not adequately confronted the basic question of the nature of listening and has utilized correlational studies with ready-made definitions and formats, the…

Delegates to the Canadian planning meeting of the International Year of the Child showed most interest in attending workshops on the topic of children in the international context (rather than in a single country context) and least interest in the topic of research. These choices may reflect a realization that (1) if we are to understand our own…

When an interview is used as a research technique, the process of the dialogue between the experimenter and the subject is a part of the experimental conditions. The dialogue can be extensively structured, or it can be open-ended. Though the latter situation may provide more information about the subject's thought processes, there is a greater…

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…

TO DETERMINE THE TYPES OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS CONSIDERED IMPORTANT IN WASHINGTON COMMUNITY COLLEGES, A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED AMONG THE FULL-TIME PROFESSIONAL STAFF MEMBERS. THE RESEARCHERS IDENTIFIED 38 PROBLEM AREAS, ALL OF WHICH WERE REPORTED TO BE OF AT LEAST MODERATE IMPORTANCE. RESULTS WERE TABULATED IN FOUR CATEGORIES--(1)…

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…

VARIOUS WAYS OF EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH AND MATERIALS IN AFRICAN STUDIES WERE REPORTED. THE PARTICIPANTS (31) ENGAGED IN DISCUSSIONS, PRESENTED PAPERS, AND ADOPTED RESOLUTIONS DURING THE 2-DAY CONFERENCE. THE PAPERS WERE PRESENTED ON TOPICS SUCH AS--RESEARCH PROBLEMS, RESOURCES, AFRICAN REACTION, LEVELS OF COMMUNICATIONS, PEDAGOGICAL…

THIS SEMINAR WAS A DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY INTENDED TO STIMULATE RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD OF ART EDUCATION. PRIOR TO THIS SEMINAR NO SUBSTANTIAL EFFORTS HAD BEEN MADE TO COORDINATE THE VARIOUS ISOLATED EFFORTS AT RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT THROUGHOUT THE NATION. THERE HAD BEEN FEW ATTEMPTS TO IDENTIFY THE MAJOR…

Questions and issues surrounding ethnographic research in educational settings are discussed from the viewpoint of the research manager responsible for directing large-scale research projects. The parts of an ethnographic study include: (1) conceptualizing the research project and determining if ethnographic methods are called for; (2) recruiting…