Discusses decisions that must be addressed when using repertory grid techniques to study teacher thinking, suggesting there is an art and a science to conducting constructivist research. The article illustrates the use of the repertory grid, snake, and self-characterization sketch to help student teachers consider their views on teacher…

Briefly describes the characteristics of video games and discusses some advantages and disadvantages of their use to measure individual abilities. Relevant research is cited in the areas of stabilization with practice, predictive testing, performance testing, testing under extreme conditions, testing brain-injured persons, and differential…

School context constrains and supports field researchers' data collection activities, just as it can influence the educational change processes being studied. For outsiders, the accessibility of a school is affected by a number of factors. These influence findings and have implications for achieving data comparability across several sites.…

Discusses problems of researchers conducting studies in situations where they are also employed. Focuses on role-switching as a practical research tactic and describes related experiences of the author (a researcher and college and administrator) with Black students at the University of Pennsylvania. (KH)

Describes three theories applicable to the study of human communication and nutrition education research: (1) communication effects perspective (applicable for evaluating short-term efforts); (2) social relationship perspective (applicable for evaluating long-term efforts); and (3) pragmatics (applicable to face-to-face communications). Includes…

Presents the argument that counseling is an instructional process and examines the implications of this position for counseling practice, counseling effectiveness research, and counselor training. An instructional counseling model for counselor training is described. (Author/RC)

This report is a collection of 11 recent papers by the Human-Machine Interaction Group at the University of California, San Diego. The following papers are included: (1) "Stages and Levels in Human-Machine Interaction," Donald A. Norman; (2) "The Nature of Expertise in UNIX," Stephen W. Draper; (3) "Users in the Real…

Proposes the dialectical perspective as offering fertile ground for the integration of child and family research and training. Defines the dialectical perspective and then discusses its applicability in a department of child and family studies. (Author)

Surveys forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies. Outlines certain criteria, methods, and writing forms. Describes them in terms of beginning the story, living the story, and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots. Describes two-part research agenda for curriculum and studies flowing from stories of experience and…

Offers some strategies for enabling science teachers to make better use of data-logging methods. These ideas are grounded in the belief that science teachers are expert lesson planners. Benefits gained for students using data-logging techniques are more likely to be secured through teachers re-interpreting their planning approaches in the new…

This paper considers students' attitudes toward research and writing about research and discusses methods used to help students overcome their largely negative attitudes toward research. The paper first states that at Illinois State University in Normal, the course that follows freshman composition is one on academic discourse. The paper reports…

Volume 7, the seventh of eight publications developed by the Intercultural Development Research Association as part of the "Texas School Dropout Survey Project" focuses on study methods and procedures. It includes all surveys, protocols, and instructions and documentation of procedures used in the Texas Dropout Survey Project. Included…

This paper discusses path analysis and the applicability of this methodology to the field of family studies. The statistical assumptions made in path analysis are presented along with a description of the two types of models within path analysis, i.e., recursive and non-recursive. Methods of calculating in the path model and the advantages of…

Although much has been written in support of a student development role for the student affairs professional, research documentation is lacking on the contributions made by student affairs staff to the development of students. A simple research methodology, which could be easily replicated on college campuses, to begin providing these missing data…

Situational studies comprised one part of a multiperspective approach to evaluation of the social studies curriculum in British Columbia, Canada. Situational studies were defined as settings in which daily interactions occurred among the subjects, and were based on two suppositions; that the interaction of students and educators created social…