RESEARCH ON TEACHING - PROCESS-PRODUCT RESEARCH FINDINGS AND THE FEELING OF OBVIOUSNESS

To address the charge that research findings are obvious, this study e xamined the perceived obviousness of 12 findings of process-product re search on teaching. Twelve hundred and fifteen volunteers in Singapore and in the San Francisco Bay Area rated the degree of obviousness of each finding after (a) attempting to select the actual finding from tw o possible opposite outcomes, (b) reading a single outcome that was ei ther the actual or the direct opposite of the actual finding, or (c) r eading a single outcome plus an explanation for the outcome. The selec tions of actual findings and the ratings of obviousness of actual or o pposite-of-actual findings indicated that respondents could not always distinguish the true findings from their opposites. Explanations tend ed to increase the rated obviousness of the findings. Differences in g ender, knowledge about teaching, and cultural background had inconsist ent effects on the judgments of obviousness.