In a conference convened to evolve new research approaches to the study of child development within the family, workgroups discussed emerging issues and priorities in research on children and families, information on children and families (needs and sources), and current methods and approaches in child development research. Workgroup I evaluated many approaches to family studies and assigned high priority to the study of care, continuity, and child identity functions of families. Workgroup II advocated the construction of a centralized archive or consortium of archives of data sets with facilities and staff for on-site use of data and support services; discussed the standardization of data set formats and the effect of theoretical perspective on data collection and presentation; and formulated a list of discussants' data needs. Workgroup III discussed the secondary analysis and synthesis of independent studies; cross disciplinary research on children and families; need for better techniques for generalization and prediction; balance between large and small scale studies; more encompassing evaluation of research projects; and more adequate conceptual models of child development which focus on the child's larger social context and its interactional outcomes. Also included: the text of the key note address (which explored the role of research in relation to welfare reform and suggested new directions for research), roundtable discussion, plenary session discussion and participants' names. (Author/RH)