Research Methods in HRD. Symposium 40. [Concurrent Symposium Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.]

This document contains three papers from a symposium on research methods in human resource development (HRD) that was conducted as part of a conference on HRD. "Utilizing Electronic Mail To Survey Human Resource Development Practitioners: A Comparison between Electronic Mail and the U.S. Postal Service for the Purpose of Data Collection: Reducing the Costs of Bureaucracy" (Harold Shoemaker, James J. Kirk) reports on a study establishing that electronic mail elicited a significantly higher response rate than regular mail (41% versus 25%) but did not alter response patterns by gender or years in the HRD profession. "Trends in the Literature: A Comparative Analysis of 1998 HRD Research" (Loretta L. Donovan, Victoria J. Marsick) documents the following three trends in HRD research: (1) HRD has made strong inroads as an area of professional practice; (2) the field continues to use qualitative and quantitative tools relatively equally; and (3) the number of articles published in the field increased by 50% this past year. "Reflection-in-Action of a Research Partnership" (Wendy E. A. Ruona, Darren C. Short) outlines the learning points identified as key to successful research partnership projects by two researchers who spent more than 2 years in such a partnership. The papers contain reference sections. (MN)