Using evidence-based practices, or those instructional techniques shown by research to improve student outcomes meaningfully, increases the performance of students with disabilities and should therefore be a priority for special educators. But how does a practice come to be considered evidence based? The unique characteristics of group…

This chapter examines the core analytic elements of randomized experiments for social research. Its goal is to provide a compact discussion for faculty members, graduate students, and applied researchers of the design and analysis of randomized experiments for measuring the impacts of social or educational interventions. Design issues considered…

The purpose of this study was to collect and examine intervention studies conducted with young children with autism. The synthesis looked at inferential studies reported between 1975 and April 2001 that included preestablished criteria such as, for example, at least two thirds of the participants ages 3 to 8 years and 50% or more of the…

Following the cultural turn within the social sciences, recent debates on how to conceptualise "the rural" have focused on "rurality" as a phenomenon produced by processes of social construction. This paper presents an empirical account of the outcome of these social construction processes through an analysis of how teenagers…

The phrases "best practice" and "evidence-based" are much in the air, and they imply that the answers are already out there. We just have to choose the right ones. Educational research in this connection is a kind of product testing. The U.S. Office of Education has made it a policy that rigorous product testing is the only…

Randomized social policy experiments (SPEs) are an important methodology for investigating topics in child development. This article provides a framework for understanding how evidence from SPEs can add to knowledge about child development. The use of SPEs for child development questions to date is summarized and lessons from the applied economics…

A structural equation modeling approach to scale reliability evaluation can be employed to estimate generalizability theory indexes in settings where sampling of subjects and conditions is carried out. In one- and two-facet crossed designs, it is demonstrated how this method can be used to obtain estimates of relative generalizability…

The purpose of this research is to understand the effect of the presence of children in the home on the quality of life of clergy and clergy spouses. A survey research design is used involving a random sample of 232 clergy and 169 clergy spouses. Data collected pertaining to selected variables in the ABC-X model of family stress. Discriminant…

The purpose of the study was to describe the organizational socialization of assistant principals and consider how that socialization prepares them for becoming principals. Using a case study research design and social systems theory as the theoretical framework, 8 assistant principals in 2 different high schools were interviewed (as were their…

The tendency to cast mothers in a negative light has featured in much of the literature researching child sexual abuse. More recently however, this trend has become increasingly evident in any number of empirical discussions focusing on mothers who themselves have a history of child sexual abuse. This article presents a detailed thematic analysis…

Qualitative research has become increasingly perceived as well suited to the advancement of counseling psychology, yet opportunities for formal training in qualitative inquiry remain inconsistently available within and across graduate programs. For the potential contribution of this approach to counseling psychology to be realized, graduate…

In this paper, we report on the outcomes of a study that was designed to explore the significant characteristics of a nursing professional development programme, which was perceived as having a successful outcome in terms of student attrition, academic attainment, practice development, and motivation for study. We provide a rational for the study,…

In a report of a two-year study of seventh- and eighth-grade struggling readers, researchers employed a mixed research design to address the following guiding questions: (a) how do students' perceptions of the value and purpose of different media-rich projects, in comparison to more traditional pedagogy, relate to their levels of engagement in…

This paper takes as its starting point an examination of the current status of some of the concerns that were raised in the mid-1980s about methodological problems faced by educational researchers using the behavioural approach in schools. These concerns included the measurement of agreement between observers, the interpretation of raw data…

The present study investigated the efficacy of using response cost paired with Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) to manage the inattentive behavior of 30 students attending third and fourth grade in Jordan. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to evaluate the efficacy of response cost and DRI. Results showed…