Students often have difficulty in evaluating the validity of a study. A conceptually and linguistically meaningful framework for evaluating research studies is proposed that is based on the discussion of internal and external validity of T. D. Cook and D. T. Campbell (1979). The proposal includes six key dimensions, three related to internal…

Understanding the distribution of achievement levels of students' performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is aided through the use of the trilinear chart. This chart is described and its use illustrated with data from the 1992 state NAEP mathematics assessment. The trilinear chart is used to portray three variables…

This paper describes the way in which the author moved from what might have been a textual explanation of a narrative analysis of qualitative data to a poetic rendition. The focus is on the work of a female graduate student working collaboratively with another graduate student. The story emerged as a teacher-as-researcher study on graduate…

Much composition research, even qualitative research, posits a world "out there" waiting to be understood and seeks causes of phenomena without considering the subjective states of researchers or study participants. Because of this, many researchers consider social phenomena as "things" which coerce human behavior. But even…

Two kinds of perspectives governing the provision and preservation of knowledge, a universal and an ecological perspective, are discussed in this paper. In the first case, scientific observations are represented through a semantic interpretation of facts. This is illustrated with a series of experiments on semantic feature perception in the recall…

Principles that institutional researchers should follow are discussed. The most important dictate is to present decision-makers the bare minimum of information necessary for the task; the material should be simple, short, and succinct. A report to assist decision-makers should not include extensive supporting documentation. The first step is to…

The Austin Independent School District presents a final technical report concerning its Chapter 1 and Chapter 1 Migrant Programs. Chapter 1 and Migrant Program Early Childhood (prekindergarten) students made impressive achievement gains that were even larger than last year's. However, students in grades 2-12 who have been served from 1 to 4 years…

In partial response to a recent best-seller decrying the so-called "ProfScam" scenario whereby professors downgrade undergraduate teaching in favor of often irrelevant research, the paper offers guidance to accounting faculty seeking to undertake meaningful publishable research. Recommendations are given for four stages in the research process:…

The efforts of the Austin (Texas) Public School District to improve the readability and usefulness of technical reports are reviewed. Coincident with, or consequent to, a 1977 letter by W. E. Jones to the editor of an Austin paper (the "Austin American Statesman") complaining about excessively lengthy (500-page) evaluation reports, the…

The Education Data Improvement Project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is described. The conceptual framework that guided its implementation is presented. The Education Data Improvement Project was designed to promote and facilitate the reform and refinement of the Center for Education Statistics (CES) national elementary and…

This monograph provides a framework for analyzing and evaluating the soundness of teacher education reform proposals. Key questions covering five areas that may be addressed to various proposals are presented: (1) problem definition; (2) solutions proposed; (3) rationale for the problem definition and proposed solutions; (4) feasibility of…

This publication contains reports on the status of teaching and research in political science in ten countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. These reports prepared according to a common guideline provide an opportunity for comparison. The essays review how political science has grown and taken root in the respective countries; the problems it faces;…

Information on pay equity studies and related activities in the states was collected through mail questionnaires. Focuses were the types of job evaluation systems used for classified state employees, pay equity policies in the states, pay equity studies, and pay equity litigation. Responses to the questionnaire showed that 46 of the 48 states…

Two bibliographies on neurolinguistic programming are updates of an earlier literature review by the same compiler. The two lists contain citations of over 160 books, research reports, dissertations, journal articles, audio and video recordings, and research projects in progress on aspects of neurolinguistic programming. Appended notes suggest…

This monograph focuses on classroom-level monitoring of student learning progress and what research says about the relationship between such monitoring and the student outcomes of achievement, attitudes, and social behavior. Findings of research studies on the topic are synthesized and 42 key references are cited and annotated. (JD)