Valid, scientific research is critical for ascertaining the effects of instructional techniques on learners with disabilities and for guiding effective special education practice and policy. Researchers in fields such as psychology and medicine have identified serious and widespread shortcomings in their research literatures related to replication…

For decades, policy makers, advocates, and researchers have been engaged in efforts to make educational opportunity more equal for students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. A great deal of research has been conducted on their efforts; however, there is some disagreement on the extent to which the research has been…

Suggests an R&D process which has demonstrated its utility as a means of allowing researchers to communicate more effectively with both users and administrators (or funders). (Author/DAG)

Suggests that where institutions such as universities agree with gatekeepers that proposed sensitive and critical research would be inappropriate researchers must create autonomous positions from which to conduct their research. (Author/AM)

It is possible to devise ingenious means for adapting basic methodological techniques to meet exigencies of the research situation while still meeting the requirements for the collection of valid data. (Author/AM)

The author examines, in the light of funding problems for Federal agencies supporting educational research, the difficulties inherent in the research process as it now exists, and methods for attacking these difficulties. The thought is presented that only by working on these general problems, will the more specific problem of funding be…

This paper contends that much of what passes as "educational research" has all the appearance, but little of the substance, of scientific research and that the educational community should realize this fact and condemn the imitation, while working to improve scientifically based and conducted projects. Problems in the field center around (1) the…

This paper suggests that there is an underlying political revolution in educational governance. Furthermore, there is a need for concern with the changes needed in the roles of researchers and state policy level policy makers in order for research to play a significant part in helping shape reform in education. Given the present political…

The judicial branches of government have unique needs for evaluative information and limited resources; this must be recognized in order to increase the utilization of applied social research by courts and lawyers. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single issue, $6.95.) (GDC)

Using as an example the development of the comprehensive school concept in the Netherlands, this paper explores the strategy for educational innovation in a centralized national educational system, the role of educational research and evaluation in educational innovation, the impact of research on policy-making, and the strengths and weaknesses of…

This article discusses the problem of translating research results into special education practices. It stresses that achieving effective research in schools requires extensive collaboration between researchers and practitioners, and outlines the role of researchers, practitioners, faculty in teacher preparation programs, state departments of…

A curriculum project is described which illustrates the use of collaborative inquiry, a cooperative effort between university researchers and educational practitioners. Four tenets of collaborative inquiry are outlined. (1) Researchers and school practitioners work together on all phases of the effort. (2) The effort is focused on real world as…