This paper discusses 10 reasons why outdoor education research needs more and better methods and measures. These reasons encompass the following areas of discussion: (1) the researcher's theories and values influence the research methods and measures chosen; (2) measurement must be relevant to the phenomenon measured, and multilevel phenomena may…

This book emphasizes the importance of research to the school psychologist. Written in a conversational style, it looks at research as a tool for problem solving and a basis for action rather than as an academic exercise. Research is described as an interaction, a point of contact to get things moving, a different way of seeing a problem. The…

The paper addresses three questions: (1) What are the most successful techniques for measuring the effects of early childhood development (ECD) programs? (2) What are likely trends of future evaluations? and (3) How can future trends take into account recent research in developmental psychology? Predictions are made on the basis of trends in ECD…

Critical Incident Technique (CIT) involves the collection of real-world examples of behavior that characterize either very effective or very ineffective performance of some activity. The principal advantage of the CIT is that it generates data based on actual behavior rather than on a particular researcher's subjectivity. The CIT has much to offer…

Although college students may provide the data for many studies of educational institutions, the viewpoint of students is often excluded from the interpretation of these data. The social scientists and educational researchers who examine colleges and universities are adult/professionals and more likely to identify with other adult/professionals…

This chapter presents Hutchinson's Metamethodology, which is a methodology for building methodologies. The methodology is composed of a set of rules and procedures that, when followed and applied to any problem area, will result in a systematic set of procedures for dealing with that problem area. The following major processes of the methodology…

Research on children and media has generally focused on the negative impact of media on developing minds. However, a theoretical framework is proposed for thinking about the role of television for American children from a developmental perspective. Instead of focusing on television's effects, television viewing can be examined as is any other…

Intended to develop new approaches to Follow Through services, the research plan described in this document is the first step in a collaborative effort of the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the Follow Through Division of the Department of Education. Prior to the delineation of the preliminary research strategy, background information…

Focusing on issues involved in improving the education of low-income children, this paper identifies two categories of questions: (1) programmatic questions, which concern what and how to teach; and (2) procedural questions, which concern how best to insure implementation of instructional approaches. The discussion also provides a summary of what…

Traditional sex difference research ignores the impact of social forces on the research process. It characteristically interprets sex differences as female deficiencies, also emphasizing the view of sex differences as determined by personal characteristics rather than situational contexts. Since research is a social process with a potentially…

Methodological problems associated with the research cited by the Baker DeKanter Review of Bilingual Education (1981) are reported. The review concluded that there is little evidence supporting the need for bilingual instruction for language minority children. Given the widespread legal, fiscal, policy, and media implications of this conclusion,…

Discussion of different types of methodological approaches, and description of the research methods used to study an innovative secondary school in England, make clear why the case study was chosen as the method to employ. The methodological approaches considered included the positivist or scientific method, involving external observation and the…

The arguments for and against Thomas Kuhn's paradigmatic thesis are presented in this paper as a means of discussing the appropriateness of Kuhn's thesis to the emerging composition discipline. Section one of the paper introduces the topic, noting how the term paradigm is used in composition to define a system of widely shared values, beliefs, and…

In exploring factors inhibiting formal evaluation at the school district level, and limiting the utility of conventional achievement monitoring, this paper begins with a review of the actual origin of the Elementary Secondary Education Act's (ESEA) evaluation requirements, and the attempts to implement national evaluation of ESEA Title I programs.…

In view of a demand for information and an expansion in evaluation research practices, possibilities for combining quantitative and qualitative methods in program evaluation should be explored. Quantitative research methods attempt to reduce observed social phenomena to numerical notations. Their weaknesses include the reduction of social…