An experimental sampling procedure for communities on which coal had been surface-mined yielded missing cells and caused the number of degrees of freedom to be N instead of the usual N minus one. The apparent discrepancy is explained, and a solution to the problem is presented. (Author/JKS)

Argues that "successful" social science requires development of a social ethic or sense of research responsibility, and suggests that an individualistic orientation is ineffective in coping with the unintended consequences of social research. Available from: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Box 211, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, single copies…

Uses a hypothetical example of an institutional review board's concerns about a speech communication faculty member's research project to illustrate current issues that speech communication administrators, departmental faculty, and graduate students need to consider as their human-subjects based research becomes increasingly overseen by external…

Provides guidelines for conducting representative case research (i.e., research that examines response of specific individuals to events, situations, circumstances, or conditions important in human life). Describes phases of investigation. Concludes representative case research offers a way of knowing persons holistically through application of…

Examines two metaphors for reading research approaches: the "vertical grave metaphor" and the "architectural design metaphor." Claims that while "vertical grave" researchers only add to the body of knowledge by publishing articles, "architectural" researchers actually deal with real world problems. Notes…

Advocates the traditional controlled message, crossed design for the study of language variables in communication research. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "Messages as Replications: Toward a Message-Centered Design Strategy," in the same issue) in support of the multiple-message design. (SR)

Advocates the multiple-message design (message replication within experiments) for message research in communication. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "The Design and Analysis of Language Experiments in Communication," in the same issue) in support of the single-message design. (SR)

Discusses Kris N. Kirby's work on signal detection theory and its application to Watson's selection task. Identifies problems with the design and interpretation of Kirby's card-selection experiments. (DR)

Discusses Over and Evans' alternative interpretations to Kris N. Kirby's card-selection tasks and finds empirical difficulties. Cites the potentially important contribution of Over and Evans to understanding of the card-selection task by applying the notion of epistemic utility. (DR)

This paper examines how schools choose class size and how households sort in response to those choices. Focusing on the highly liberalized Chilean education market, we develop a model in which schools are heterogeneous in an underlying productivity parameter, class size is a component of school quality, households are heterogeneous in income and…

Objective: This study examined the extent to which conclusions of published outcome studies contain phrases that could be misconstrued as implying more empirical support than is warranted. Methods: All articles (N = 138) reporting outcome studies from 2000 to 2005 in two social work research journals and two topical database searches were assessed…

Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is a data analysis method that is often used to control extraneous sources of variation in non-equivalent group designs. It is commonly believed that as long as the covariate is highly correlated with the dependent variable there is nothing to lose in using ANCOVA, even in non-randomized studies. This paper examines…

Although research on argumentativeness appears to confirm the centuries-old "commonsense knowledge" that successful arguers enjoy arguing and are adept at remaining "cool and rational" during an argument, the empirical research itself is based on normative assumptions that underlie this Cartesian "commonsense…

This panel's goal was to improve the validity and utility of measurement, design, and analysis in research on teaching through the stimulation of new methodological knowledge and through the identification and translation of useful existing knowledge from other descriptions. This panel tried to identify as many methodological problems as possible…

This note suggests a solution to the problem of achieving randomization in experimental settings where units deemed eligible for treatment "trickle in," that is, appear at any time. The solution permits replication of the experiment in order to test for time-dependent effects. (Author/CTM)