Across the OECD, enormous effort and investment has been made to reinforce the quality, production and use of education research in policy and practice. Despite this, using research in education remains a challenge for many countries and systems. The OECD launched the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project to respond to this…

This brief paper presents a sequential walk through a simple research setting--a two group experiment--to indicate common but avoidable design difficulties that may jeopardize the usefulness of the data obtained. The six flaws examined are the failure to select subjects from the population to which generalizations are to be made; failure to use…

The research model presented here is designed to be used by practitioners who either do not have substantial training in research methodology or do not have the time to design and document involved procedures. (SK)

Asserts that the emphasis on explaining individual differences in political orientations among preadults accounts for "the disappointing contribution of political socialization research to political understanding." Argues that "possessing an explicit model of democratic citizenship would provide greater political meaning to empirical data."…

Two issues of concern in education are addressed: (1) how should educational research be carried out and (2) why do practitioners so often fail to heed the findings from educational research? The author uses the conceptualization of Stephen Pepper which distinguished four different hypotheses about the nature of the world (formism, mechanism,…

Presents 17 research paradigms students might employ for doctoral dissertations on instructional design, makes suggestions for students evaluating the literature and developing a conceptual framework for research, and summarizes dissertations developed by University of Florida doctoral students, classifying them into three research paradigms which…

In order for researchers to develop principles for successful adult education, they must use both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The first step in developing principles for adult education is to describe education and practices through descriptive research that objectively quantifies and classifies aspects of practice. Through an…

The practice of student teaching is used in this report to describe a structural design model for educational practices and to illustrate applications of the model. Developing such a model involves analyzing research studies and describing related practices. The results of the research analysis in this study are applied to student teaching in the…

Research on teacher effects should be reconceptualized by a psychological model which incorporates human learning and information processing perspectives. Exemplary areas of research include teacher decision making strategies, student cognitive processes, and teacher-student interactions in the classroom. (CP)

There is a growing realization that educational research on student learning often has little impact on teaching practice because the research is irrelevant, and that a new formulation of the problems research should tackle and the methodology it should employ is needed. (JMD)

This commentary on a study that found the use of a system of least prompts produced increases in rates of conversations between preschoolers with and without disabilities discusses the benefits of the hierarchical model of intervention that maximizes the usefulness of research to practitioners. (Author/CR)

A review of recent literature and commission reports identifies persistent problems in two areas of educational administration: research and preparation programs. The two problems are linked in that they are often supervised by faculty who direct but do not themselves perform research. Two areas of research needs are the poor research skills of…

This study was conducted to develop a process for identifying the effects of vocational education research and development projects and activities and to identify the effects of selected research projects on the vocational, technical, and adult education programs and students in Wisconsin. Technical and adult education faculty and staff who had…

The communication of research findings among collegiate institutional researchers is considered in relation to the contribution of qualitative language in general, and catastrophe theory in particular. The qualitative language of catastrophe theory may help reduce the arbitrariness of description, through identification of qualitative features…

This paper defines a conceptual model for institutional research in the community college and identifies sources of information, programs, and services that provide data necessary for implementation of the model. The model contains four specific subsystems: goal setting, program development, program review, and cost effectiveness. Each subsystem…