The author cites reasons for the negligible impact of research on public policy regarding mental retardation. He suggests that research is secondary to economic, political, and social factors, and that the research enterprise is fragmented and uncoordinated and is not oriented toward the need of policy makers. (Author/CL)

Discusses issues and problems peculiar to social research in developing nations, particularly in Africa. Problems include language and concept definition, research climate, funds and facilities, and dissemination and utilization of research findings. A Nigeria research project dealing with war-displaced children is described. (DB)

This article calls for a more intimate relation between industry and academia. It discusses the essential features of the U.S. research and development system, looking at characteristics of industrial research and of academic research as they might affect a partnership. (author/BB)

Reviews 40 years of organizational studies from a micro perspective representing the author's roots in psychology. The field's major accomplishment is its interdisciplinarity. Organizational studies helped put organizational management under critical scrutiny and demonstrate the futility of devising simplistic solutions to organizational and…

Suggests a more functional pair of categories than "basic" and "applied" to describe the purposes for which research in vocational education is and should be conducted. Explores implications for research management of the proposed categories. (Author/JOW)

Reviewed both theoretical foundation and therapeutic implications of psychodrama, therapy using theatrical principles as clients act out problems. Used social psychological and psychodramatic perspectives to evaluate psychodrama research in areas of therapeutic strategies, case illustration reports, and controlled research. Results suggest need…

The need for research in computerized career guidance is pervasive. It is an expression of developers' needs to make sense of their work, to clarify what they are doing, to guide them in constructing and implementing a model, to observe the consequences and efficacy of a system, and to provide feedback. (JOW)

Presents an alternative architecture for intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) that is based on (1) the understanding/explanation process for tutoring and (2) the learner-tutor duality. Learner and tutor models are explained, knowledge types are described, and suggestions for further work are given. (18 references) (LRW)

A literature review was organized by three theories: career as life process, as individual agency, and as meaning-making. Although the objective career is a major component, subjective meaning-making plays a significant role in career development. Understanding of career development should integrate several perspectives. (SK)

Attendees at a symposium and a survey of 40 researchers and leaders identified a macroagenda for technology education research, what would be ideal, and existing roadblocks. Highest-rated topics included integration, technology education as general education, rationale, effectiveness in delivering technological literacy, nature of and need for…

Discussion of computer-based simulations for business focuses on adding transparency through system dynamics techniques. Describes an experiment that evaluated the relevance and the effects of providing structural transparency to users of business simulators and suggests further research. (Contains 51 references.) (LRW)

The reliance of comprehension processes on knowledge to form explanatory inferences has been well established (Grasser, Singer, & Trabasso, 1994), yet the evidence that supports these studies is derived from sentence pairs that are largely unexamined. While some recent studies have suggested that the stimulus sentences utilized in comprehension…

This is the second in a two-part special issue on the nation's research agenda on violence against women (VAW). As introduced in Part 1, this special issue is not the definitive word on what the nation's research agenda should be, nor is it the final critique on the current state of research in this critical area. Rather, this special issue is an…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits--for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on "quality". Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This new publication…

Interest in student leadership or leadership by young people has always existed in school and community settings and while there are many programs devoted to leadership development and training, we believe that there is a need for focused research into what young people conceive leadership to be and in what circumstances they would see it being…