Examines Burt's contributions to typographical research on spacing words and texts; use of serifs, and the effects of typefaces, typesizes, and line-length on reading comprehension. In spite of Hearnshaw's (1979) favorable assessment and the wisdom of Burt's sentiments, many of his conclusions were not supported by data. (JAC)

Reviews 15 studies using Social Skills Training (SST) with delinquent populations and discusses conceptual and methodological issues. Concludes that findings do not yet provide unequivocal support for the usefulness of SST in reducing criminal behavior of delinquents. (Author/WAS)

Outlines career education activities, one based on the organizational needs of career services, the other based on individual needs of career advisers. The case is considered for adopting educational research methods developed from the ethnographic research tradition to help career advisers meet challenges facing them in the development, delivery,…

Points out that variability in focus, method, and conceptual level of case studies causes difficulties in validating such studies. Notes method variations raise questions about validity. Claims the validity of case studies lies in their usefulness as projective models. States teachers can generate their own theories where practical educational…

A novel method to investigate the pollen diets of hoverflies is described. The method dispenses with the need for dissection skills or the use of hazardous chemicals thus making it particularly useful for school, college or undergraduate projects and for amateurs. It utilises the properties of the indigestible pollen coat, or exine, which enables…

There is no doubt that health promotion and health education (HP/HE) in the UK are in a crisis, in view of the limited amount of financial resources available, the reduction in services and the lack of available new specialist jobs. The Government seems to have made a political decision about the reduction (if not abolition) of HP/HE services,…

What are the aspirations of Adult ESOL learners and what social and institutional factors constrain them? What are the consequent implications for Adult ESOL practitioners? This paper draws on a corpus of 76 interviews with adult migrants learning English in the UK, analyzing four of them in detail using a case study methodology. Despite the high…

Governments now expect universities to behave entrepreneurially generating revenues from the commercial exploitation of their intellectual assets ("third stream" income). This study questions whether this is possible for all universities in the UK and for all disciplines, or whether there are differences between institutions, between…

This report considers a range of issues involved in doing case-study research with emphasis on the potential for and the problems associated with this approach in distance education. The report begins with an introduction to the case-study research methodology, noting that it is not widely recognized as an approach in distance education.…

Describes a study conducted at an annual staff development conference to determine the needs of professional staff developers in British higher education. An overview of the research strategy, which was based on an action research model, is provided; the ranking of needs areas is discussed; and needs statements with justifications are appended.…

Discusses use of the grounded theory approach to derive models of the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers. The background to the development of qualitative approaches to information studies in the United Kingdom is described, and the results of four studies of the information-seeking patterns of researchers are outlined. (Contains…

Grounded theory may be used to bridge case studies and large-scale surveys as it enables the strengths of both to be combined in the same research program. Presents one example of the application of a grounded theory approach to research into science learning, and considers the generalizability of the research results. (Contains 33 references.)…

Discusses issues surrounding teacher research and the validity of qualitative study, exploring one teacher researcher's route through a small-scale qualitative study. The article uses attempts to implement a critically ethnographic approach and dilemmas of trying to live the theoretical principles of the research methodology as the basis for…

Describes one university's development, through action research, of formative elements in assessment, reviewing the planning, implementation, and evaluation of change in assessment; reporting the action research through implementation of actions to facilitate more effective use of formative feedback; and outlining evaluation of these actions…

Presents three research claims that may have influenced the adoption of rhyme and analogy as part of the National Literacy Strategy. Notes that the three claims are: rhyme awareness is related to reading ability; rhyme awareness affects reading achievement; and rhyme awareness leads to the development of phoneme awareness. Concludes that not one…