Supporting Professionals-at-Risk: Evaluating Interventions
To Reduce Burnout and Improve Retention of Special Educators
by Elizabeth Cooley and Paul Yovanoff
from: Exceptional Children, 62, 336-355.
The title of the article appears to be relatively clear. It informs the reader that the general thrust of the research is that of "evaluating" programs designed to reduce burnout and turnover in a group of special education teachers who are at-risk for turnover.
The abstract provides a clear, although very brief, summary of the overall research. It aids understanding by listing the kinds of programs it is evaluating (stress management and peer collaboration interventions) as well as its independent measures (burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment). The abstract even ties the study's listed dependent measures into existing research related to turnover by mentioning that these measures have been found to be correlated with turnover.
The purpose of the study is clearly stated in two sentences which are then tied into a third sentence about the overall design. Thereby, the authors provide both conceptual and technical information about the essential research problem. Often studies state their problem only in conceptual terms; by tying it into technical terms, the reader is given a really concrete understanding of what the authors are attempting to do in their research.
Unfortunately, to get to this succinct and well put-together statement of the problem, the reader must read through three pages of literature review which slowly build to the rationale and purpose of the research. This approach lacks clarity. It would have been easier to understand the research problem and its relation to existing work in the field if the problem had been stated in the beginning of the article and the literature covered thereafter as supporting documentation for the rationale and need for the study.
Review of ...