Fourth and 5th graders (N = 119) were individually interviewed regarding their reactions to completing group-administered, positive and negative peer nomination techniques. Results were consistent with previous findings of no obvious harm; but, additional, unique information regarding children's discussions was identified. For example, 7 children reported that 6 low-status peers were talked about behind their backs. However, these 7 children further reported that, to the best of their knowledge, none of the 6 low-status peers found out about the negative comments. No child reported having hurt feelings or having knowledge of anyone else having hurt feelings. Overall, 17% of the children (n = 20) reported that they were complimented by others; high-status peers were significantly more likely to be complimented. It was determined that the condition of minimal risk of harm, harm not greater than children might encounter in daily life, was not breached Directions for further research are discussed.

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The Children's Orientation and Amnesia Test (COAT) is an objective, standardized means of assessing cognitive functioning in children and adolescents who are in the early stages of recovery from traumatic brain injury. The COAT is composed of 16 items that assess general orientation, temporal orientation, and memory. This study was designed to determine if children who are receiving special education services perform more poorly on the COAT than children who are in the regular classroom. It was found that children receiving special services performed significantly more poorly, and 13% of them were classified in the impaired range, as compared to 3% of the students in the regular classroom. The results provide important reference data for interpreting COAT scores of children with traumatic brain injuries who have either premorbid learning disabilities or other special service needs.

Sociometric research has been plagued by low consent rates that potentially decrease the validity of assessment results. This study focused on ways to increase consent rates and documentation of guardians' reasons for nonconsent. A planned sequence of increasingly more personalized communication steps with parents yielded a 92% consent rate. Reasons for nonconsent ranged from children telling their parents that they did not want to participate to not having enough information about the research to make an informed decision. Discussion focuses on strategies that may increase guardian support for children's involvement in educational research.Low rates of participation in sociometric research (Foster, Bell-Dolan, & Berler, 1986; MacCarthy & Hoge, 1982) potentially decrease the validity of results, because children who do not gain consent vary on important dimensions from those who do gain consent (Beck, Collins, Overholser, & Terry, 1984). For example, in a study by Beck et al. (1984), 65% of all the parents gave permission for their children to participate in a research project in which the child rated with whom he or she would prefer to play. Twelve (60%) of the children who did not receive guardian consent to participate were rated by the teacher as aggressive or withdrawn. Frame and Strauss (1987) found that nonconsenters had lower academic performance, were rated as "less popular with their peers" using a 5-point Likert scale rating of preferred playmates, and were more withdrawn and aggressive and less physically active than consenters. Consenters also have been shown to differ from nonconsenters on several dimensions: sociability, intelligence, social class, and educational level (Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1975). Furthermore, students with recent average and above-average grades, with above-average IQ scores, and with parents who are in a professional or managerial position in their areas of work were almost twice as likely to obtain guardian consent for research (Wicker, 1968).

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