I use prototype to do my AJAX development, and I use the code like this:
somefunction: function(){
    var result = "";
    myAjax = new Ajax.Request(postUrl, {
        method: 'post',
        postBody: postData,
        contentType: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
        onComplete: function(transport){
            if (200 == transport.status) {
                result = transport.responseText;
            }
        }
    });
    return result;
}
And I find that the "result" is an empty string. So, I tried this:
somefunction: function(){
    var result = "";
    myAjax = new Ajax.Request(postUrl, {
        method: 'post',
        postBody: postData,
        contentType: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
        onComplete: function(transport){
            if (200 == transport.status) {
                result = transport.responseText;
                return result;
            }
        }
    });
}
But it didn't work also. How can I get the responseText for other method to use?