Attitudes and attitude measurement are critical components of teaching and learning and the instructional developer should collect as much relevant data about that process as possible. It is important for instructional developers to study the attitudes of learners in order to demonstrate attitude/achievement relationships, promote attitudinal…

These proceedings contain forty three- to seven-page papers presented at an adult education research conference as well as two alternate papers, a background paper for a poster session, and abstracts and background papers of six symposia. Focus of the reports is on research needs, tools, and methods as they pertain to adult education. Issues…

Combining community participation in decision making with methods of social investigation, participatory research focuses on involvement of the subjects of the research in the research process. Adult educators are exploring this research method which, unlike quantitative research, serves the needs of individuals and not those of policy makers who…

The Anonymous Families History Project of the University of Minnesota developed guidelines for college students researching and writing the social histories of their families. Included in the guidelines are interview questions, tips for conducting an oral interview, a primary source list, and a bibliography of background reading. Question topics…

The problems and rewards of conducting contemporary historical research are related in the light of the author's experiences in preparing an Ed.D. dissertation analyzing Malcolm S. Knowles' contributions to and influence on the field of adult education. Given its contemporaneous nature, the author terms the study accurate but inconclusive. The…

This guide presents many new experimental designs for data analysis and reviews certain standard procedures. It is hoped that the treatment of the material will stimulate new applications since the emphasis of the guide is on the problems encountered in running experiments rather than on an elaboration of mathematical models. Discussed are:…

This collection of four papers is the result of an action caucus held in association with the Speech Communication Association's 1972 convention, focusing on developments in the speech communication field since the 1968 USOE/SAA New Orleans conference (ED 028 164). In the first paper, "New Orleans Revisited but Briefly," James E. Roever summarizes…

The purposes of this book include the following: (1) to help students in acquiring knowledge and skills needed to design and conduct experimental research, (2) to acquaint potential researchers with the various methods and instruments that are available, and (3) to suggest new areas of research. These purposes are discussed in the three parts of…

Study describing library support for faculty research on the 22 campuses of Pennsylvania State University used citation analysis to determine the availability of titles used for research by faculty at branch campuses in the University Libraries' collections and a questionnaire to identify methods used by this group to obtain resources. (EJS)

Reviews hierarchical linear models that have been developed to address problems of the measurement of change and the unit of analysis in educational research. Introduces a three-level hierarchical model that should constitute the basic paradigm for future quantitative research on student learning. (Author/BJV)

Investigates the impact of the Internet on formal scholarly communication via examining the adoption of electronic vehicles in several classic natural and social science fields. Concludes that the Internet has affected almost all activities in formal scholarly communication with a wider impact in the natural sciences in general than in the social…

This handbook brings together information on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of adult basic education (ABE) research in Australia. Chapter 1 describes the ABE Research Project that developed this handbook. It summarizes the rationale and context for the project, describes its aims and content, provides details of the information gathering…

Preliminary findings of this research effort provide support for the hypothesis that existing databases maintained by federal agencies for administrative or monitoring purposes can serve as useful data sources in special education policy research. The research explored the relationships among a number of state-level special education, fiscal, and…

This paper oriented for new researchers entering the field of CAI research discusses the research experience in this area, outlines some of the important computer requirements of CAI research, and proposes a conservative computer development strategy to meet those requirements. The development of PLATO and TICCIT are described as examples of the…

Attitude and opinion research requires considerable planning, careful design of survey procedures and sampling techniques, and practical ways of collecting, analyzing, and reporting results. The following suggestions are based on the extensive public opinion research conducted by the University of Alabama. (1) Decide what specific problem is to be…