The field manual for a series of coordinated studies of the spontaneous acquisition of a second language by adult immigrant workers provides a theoretical and practical framework for the entire project and a source of information about it for other researchers. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the project's objectives and organization. Chapter 3 reviews…

A technique is presented to transform incomplete categorical data into complete data by imputing appropriate scores into missing cells. A solution of the optimization problem is suggested, and relevant psychometric theory is discussed. The average correlation should be at least 0.50 before the method becomes practical. (SLD)

The use of embedded support devices (ESDs) has been studied in previous research that has unfortunately demanded introspection and reflection on one's own cognitive functioning. In contrast, eye movement registration measures the attentional focus of students on specific text parts regardless of whether or not the student is conscious of this…

Describes a study that was conducted in The Netherlands to construct and validate an indicator of research performance through collecting peer judgments of journals from 385 international scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Quality of coverage by the Social Science Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index is examined. (24…

The accuracy of data collected by Dutch geography students in a field study of commercial activities in a French city was monitored with data available from official lists. The causes of error, both in student work and official sources, and some lessons for future field work are examined. (Author/IS)

The eight chapters of this theme issue describe studies of learning environments conducted in a variety of conceptual and methodological perspectives by researchers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. Studies reflect perspectives on conceptualizations of learning environments that range from objectivist to more…

Discussion of the Dutch Technology-Enriched School (TES) project highlights teacher involvement, including teacher attitudes; development versus controlled research; characteristics of the TES project, including collaboration with university researchers; and the progressive broadening implementation strategy, i.e., implementing computers in…

School-effectiveness research (SER) has an instrumental orientation. Although critics claim otherwise, SER researchers usually consider students'"innate" background characteristics when studying schools. Theory formation, foundational issues, and research viability are being addressed. The field is definitely alive and kicking, despite…

Reviews how carrying capacity for different environmental problems is operationalized. Discusses whether it is possible to compare threats, using the exceeding of carrying capacity as a yardstick. Points out problems in comparative threat analysis using three case studies: threats to European groundwater resources, threats to ecosystems in Europe,…

Practical investigation tasks are part of the Dutch examination programme of senior secondary education. In mathematics and science, pupils are expected to develop a broad range of research skills, which includes connecting real world phenomena with the scientific world, understanding the problems at hand and asking the right questions, making a…

A limitation of the principal components method is its scale dependence. This note shows that the method is scale invariant if the normalization is modified in an obvious way. Then the effect of a change in units is as transparent as in linear regression, and principal components can be used without apology. Most researchers who use multivariate…

This book presents a report of an evaluative study of an organized study abroad program. The problem addressed in this study is: what is the value of the United States of America/Netherlands Social Studies Student-Teachers Exchange Program 1987 with respect to both product and process? A preliminary literature study about internationalization of…

Papers from the meeting on computational linguistics include: "Conversational Games, Belief Revision and Bayesian Networks" (Stephen G. Pulman); "Valence Alternation without Lexical Rules" (Gosse Bouma); "Filtering Left Dislocation Chains in Parsing Categorical Grammar" (Crit Cremers, Maarten Hijzelendoorn);…

The six chapters of this theme issue consider three trends in educational effectiveness research: (1) integration of effectiveness phenomena at different levels, (2) a more model-driven approach than in the past, and (3) increased complexity of analysis tools and techniques to suit the new emphasis on process. (SLD)

Background: To overcome the "teacher bandwidth problem" in supporting large groups of students, both automated process support (cueing) and face-to-face feedback by peers during small group work (collaboration) can be provided to students. Aim: The purpose of this experimental study was to examine whether a multimedia practical…