The Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will establish technical standards and guidelines to ensure that the survey design and implementation processes of PIAAC yield high-quality and internationally comparable data. This document provides a revised version of the technical standards and guidelines originally…

Racial and ethnic identity (REI) measures are in danger of becoming conceptually meaningless because of evaluators' insistence that they conform to measurement models intended to assess unidimensional constructs, rather than the multidimensional constructs necessary to capture the complexity of internalized racial or cultural socialization. Some…

The author discusses a method to produce a cluster of focused nursing research projects. Her method includes (1) focal topic identification, (2) development, (3) communication, (4) integration, (5) collaboration, and (6) balance. (CH)

Debates the value of experimentation as a tool in educational research. (MK)

Path analysis is defined for explicitly formulating theory, and for attaching quantitative estimates to causal effects thought to exist on a priori grounds. The four basic kinds of path models are illustrated: (1) recursive; (2) block; (3) block-recursive and (4) nonrecursive. (Author/GDC)

Describes the development of multisite qualitative research (studies that address the same question in several settings and use similar research procedures in each setting) and its use in educational research. Presents the results of a survey of 25 multisite qualitative educational studies to highlight the design's institutional and methodological…

Discusses the role of research methodology as disciplined inquiry in educational research. Uses examples to address issues of generalizability of results, precision, and choice of research methods. (MK)

Introduces statistical methods for evaluating differences in patterns of time to response between two subject groups to determine better therapy. Uses data from hypothetical clinical trial to illustrate two elementary methods for analyzing survival data. Discusses generalization of methods to incorporate covariates. Concludes with general…

Empirical research is all about trying to model and predict the world. In this article, I discuss how design-based research methods can help do this effectively. In particular, design-based research methods can help with the problem of methodological alignment: ensuring that the research methods we use actually test what we think they are testing.…

Outlines costs and benefits associated with different cross-validation strategies; in particular the way in which the study design affects the cost and benefits of different types of cross-validation. Suggests that the choice between empirical estimation methods and formula estimates involves a trade-off between accuracy and simplicity. (JAC)

Discusses issues to consider when investigating behavioral effect of foods, including idiosyncratic response to particular food, necessity of identifying individual sensitive to food being studied, necessity of including washout phase, consideration of withdrawal effects, assessment of change, dietary challenge, and time parameter necessary for…

To predict suicide, explicit causal models of suicide outcome are needed in which predictors are temporally ordered and then tested statistically. Because suicide is a dichotomous, nominal scale outcome, only certain statistics for prediction are appropriate. Logistic regression, which utilizes the likelihood ratio test of statistical inference,…

Addresses intensive study of individual subject, emphasizing development of appropriate designs and analytical procedures for single-subject research. Treatment times should be randomly assigned to treatments, creating randomization. The assumption of random sampling is not met in single-subject experiments, however, data from a randomized…

Explores the problems involved in conducting program evaluation in the field of energy conservation. Highlights similarities between evaluation research and basic research. Examines stages of evaluation research within the context of energy conservation programs and argues that experimental evaluations are desirable and feasible. (Author/MK)

Describes representative single-subject research designs and related statistical procedures for group counselors to study the effects of interventions in groups. Concludes that despite limitations, single-subject designs are useful for obtaining information about intervention effects with groups in direct service contexts that can be compared to…