The objective of this study was to adapt the ideas of "strong inference" in developing a design procedure which can be used in the evaluation of an instructional system in such a way as to identify and correct specific weaknesses within a system. This method allows the evaluator to consider many hypotheses as possible causes of system…

This study is concerned with the integration, cohesiveness, and satisfaction of communication processes within a large, complex organization. Since smaller, less complex organizations are considered to have a higher degree of integrativeness, the increased size and complexity of an organization diminishes the integration of communication processes…

This research project focused on the development of communication theory from qualitative data gathered through unstructured methods in a natural setting. The project emphasized the search for and discovery of communication variables by using data collection methods (unstructured interviews and nonparticipant observation) that provided detailed…

It was the purpose of this study to provide a tool for designing and executing future research on panel data in which relationships between pairs of variables are observed over time so that contingent conditions can be controlled. The 360 subjects were selected from the telephone directory and surveyed at random about their responses to the…

Background: The Reef education evaluation: environmental knowledge and reef experience report concerns PhD research about marine education, and the investigation of learning with high school students and the effect of coral reef monitoring marine experiential education interventions. The effectiveness of classroom learning and reef trips were…

The objective of this paper is to discuss the survey as a research method based on three questionnaire surveys developed and administered in educational settings: (1) a survey exploring the status aspiration and gender awareness of undergraduate women completed by 62 respondents; (2) a survey of computer-assisted instruction completed by 111…

This paper discusses different perspectives associated with the use of multiple measures in educational assessment and explores some of the technical considerations for selecting and combining multiple measures. The paper concludes with an example of the use of multiple measures with regard to the recent No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002.…

This paper presents a multifaceted approach for investigating the impact of the Success for All (SFA) program on children's reading proficiency. The approach advocated features case study research and uses document analysis, structured observation, interviews, and questionnaires to collect data. The research design was successfully field tested in…

Defining research as systematic, self-critical inquiry open to public criticism and/or empirical test, the author considers the relevance of scientific, historical, and educational research to practice. He asserts that teachers must be involved in educational research and that researchers must justify themselves to practitioners, not practitioners…

Discusses some uses of questionnaires and surveys in educational research. Describes different kinds of closed and open form questions, offers suggestions for finding questionnaires for use, and describes methods of data analysis. Includes practical suggestions for using questionnaires in the chemistry classroom. (PVD)

Provides background on the California State Library Packet Radio project, which will use packet radios to deploy a wireless, high-speed, wide-area network of 600 nodes, including 100 libraries, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Project goals and objectives, plan of operation, equipment, and evaluation plans are summarized. (MES)

A generation ago, Fred N. Kerlinger proposed that there were a number of myths that pervaded educational research. An overview of three specific myths is presented, followed by a discussion of the degree to which these myths have been overcome or still exist in educational research. The first of these myths, the "methods" myth, is…

Given that theory is a crucial component of path analysis and that major theories in the social sciences either directly or by inference assume interaction, it appears that interaction has to be considered in path analytic models that reflect those theories. The use of interaction within the framework of path analytic methodology is investigated…

The objective of this investigation was to take a small data set that represents unbalanced factorial designs and explain by example how the variance is partitioned when using the various options from the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSSX) and Statistical Analysis System (SAS). That the unequal cell size analysis of variance…

Current omnibus procedures for the analysis of interaction effects in repeated measures designs which contain a grouping variable are known to be nonrobust to violations of multisample sphericity, particularly when group sizes are unequal. An alternative approach is to formulate a comprehensive set of contrasts on the data which probe the specific…