This paper discusses a procedure for diagnosing adult educational needs, which the author developed and tested for her doctoral dissertation to study the work performance of attendant supervisors at a mental retardation facility. She describes the methodology used as ethnographic research, which entails an analytic description of a culture by…

The paper examines past and potential contributions of literature to sociology and evaluates the relationship between the two disciplines. Emphasis is on explaining how the novelist's observation as embodied in a work of fiction may be used to further the work of the social scientist. Section I identifies major uses of literature in sociological…

The paper discusses methodological and theoretical concerns of sociologists and art historians and proposes issues for an interdisciplinary social study of art which draw from both disciplines. The social nature of art is interpreted as including art's contribution to society and social change, its position as an expression of social realities,…

Several methodological issues related to second language acquisition research are considered, and a two-part study is discussed that addresses issues related to data collection, i.e., how and how frequent, and data analysis, i.e., the appropriateness of the statistical tools, the justification of inferences and the comparability of results based…

This document is intended as a resource guide for institutional researchers, based on the experience of the Johnson County Community College (Kansas) Institutional Research Office. It includes pragmatic suggestions concerning research design and research problems which are incorporated into discussions of research questions, reporting data,…

This study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of two alternative methods for determining the status of graduates of Seminole Community College. The first method involved the identification of graduates, design and mailing of a questionnaire, and analysis of response data, as mandated by the state. The second method compared computer data…

The paper discusses problems faced by policy makers in utilizing social science research in decision making on educational issues and problems. The term social science research is interpreted as including both educational evaluation and educational research. The history of social science research and critical issues associated with social science…

An argument is made against the use of school averages as composition measures by documenting the non-random nature of peer associations and by presenting evidence that different students are influenced by different reference groups. The structure of friendship associations among some 20,000 students in the McDill Twenty High School Sample is…

A conceptual framework and a unique data collection technique are proposed as a means for studying the relationship between cognitive structure and political awareness in children. Most researchers have dealt with cognitive development and political socialization research by examining children in different grade levels at one point in time.…

Over 35 educational research projects in Scotland are briefly described in this survey report which is an update of the research projects being performed in Scotland during 1970-72. A variety of research projects in general subject areas such as the teaching of reading, science, and English and foreign language are described. Other research…

A broad search of the scientifically relevant literature on television and human behavior began in the fall of 1973 and extended over a year; the search concentrated on the literature since 1960, although it attempted to include all significant earlier works. In addition, special emphasis was placed on obtaining very recent, hard to locate, and…

This report presents the proceedings of a conference for researchers and trainers of researchers, convened to discuss the issues involved in improving knowledge by finding better ways to permit cross-research analyses or longitudinal research analyses. Included are: (1) a description of the history, goals, and activities of the Interagency Panel…

The University of Illinois' PLATO Elementary Program, which was observed and evaluated for two years, was the focus of Part 1. The major PLATO features were described and the PLATO elementary reading and mathematics demonstrations, representing attempts at sequential and concurrent hardware, software, curriculum, and implementation development of…

The McLennan Community College Multi-County Needs Assessment Project's (MAP) survey to identify employer needs is discussed in the document. The Business and Industry Survey, one component of MAP, was conducted in the central Texas area (Bosque, Falls, Hill, and McLennan counties) during 1974-1975. Survey development and procedures for its…

Research techniques for measuring political learning during a campaign are examined. Micro-analytic techniques involve intensive analysis of individuals. Large amounts of data on the psychological and sociological settings of subjects are gathered, along with information on opinions toward past and emerging political situations. Macro-analytic…