The zeitgeist for reform in education precipitated a number of changes in assessment. Among these are performance assessments, sometimes linked to "high stakes" accountability decisions. In some instances, the trustworthiness of these decisions is based on variance components and error variances derived through generalizability theory.…

Postmodern, multicultural, and feminist critiques of psychology have changed how longitudinal researchers construct their inquiries and frame their data. Also the new scholarship brings to the longitudinal investigation perspectives from other disciplines including sociology, anthropology, and history, among others. The book used as a framework…

A research design is described for the situation in which a program, particularly a compensatory education program funded by Chapter 1 of the Hawkins Stafford Act of 1988, can be evaluated when there is no available comparison group and no pretest data. The design requires content specialists to identify which objectives on the posttest were…

This study sought to identify the variables which influence the meanings of labels used by science education researchers doing qualitative research. In a qualitative emergent design study, participant observation, informal interviews, and document review were used to gather and analyze data in recurring cycles. Presentations and discussions among…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how event representation might operate in preschool children's understanding of the temporal terms "before" and "after." The first study, involving 3- and 4-year-olds (a total of 16 of each age) varied the arbitrariness of event sequences. Sixteen stories, each containing five…

This paper discusses the problems of conducting research on a low-base rate sensitive family problem, parental child snatching, and proposes that telephone interviewing is a cost efficient and methodologically appropriate solution to these problems. The paper reviews the scant literature on parental child snatching by presenting what are…

Research with older persons suffering from physical illness presents numerous challenges to gerontologists. Issues of conceptualization pertaining to the definition of illness, its location in the research paradigm, and the context in which illness occurs must be addressed prior to dealing with methodological problems. Access to physically ill…

This symposium paper looks at three paradigms for naturalistic research on visuals: the positivistic, the interpretive, and the critical approaches. Discussion centers on questions of epistemology, such as "What do you mean?" and "How do you know?" The place of naturalistic inquiry within this discussion is indicated, and…

The one group posttest only evaluation model has been identified as a relatively inexpensive and useful model that can identify program components that are not being successful. The use of the model is discussed and illustrated through a hypothetical evaluation of a compensatory (Chapter 1) program. The one group posttest only evaluation model…

The paper details a study supporting the hypothesis that people's opinions about nuclear arms control are influenced by their logically relevant beliefs about nuclear weapons, nuclear war, and the Soviet Union. The hypothesis should not be construed to imply that these beliefs are the only influences or the most powerful influences on arms control…

"Child as cultural apprentice" is a developmental psychologist's heuristic metaphor which is embedded in an individual-socioecological frame of reference. A basic theoretic feature of this metaphor is the explicit recognition of the interdependence of the process of child development and the socially provided resources for that…

Some 1000 questions in education journals were analyzed for aspects of usage and content, linguistic structure, cognitive process, and logical operation. Only half of the studies examined were found to use questions, and only a third of the questions addressed teaching and learning, curriculum and milieu. The great majority of questions entailed a…

The use of computer simulations as teaching devices in two psychology courses (statistics and research design and physiological psychology) is discussed. In the statistics and design course the primary purpose of simulation activities was to provide a problem and data set which could be used to practice skills acquired through a traditional…

As the procedures of evaluation research have developed during recent years, it has become clear that the results of evaluation studies have failed to provide policy decision makers with useful information. An approach towards designing and implementing more useful evaluations--the stakeholder survey--is discussed. Stakeholders are individuals, or…

This presentation outlines a perspective on job analysis and comments on research reported at a symposium with reference to that perspective. The perspective discusses two questions pertaining to job analysis that are referred to as the Stage I and Stage II evaluation operations: What should be done? and How well was it done? Stage I evaluation is…