Whole-school or whole-class programs designed to promote positive behavior can enhance the likelihood that effective teaching and learning occur for all students. This practice guide is intended to help elementary education educators, as well as school and district administrators and parents, implement and support effective prevention-focused…

Tells how oral history helps integrate journalistic techniques into standard historical research. Discusses techniques that may be used during four phases of gathering oral history: preliminary contact, preinterview preparation, the interview, and post-interview activities. (GT)

Notes that Career Services Center at University of California-San Diego has conducted career surveys of graduating classes since 1982 and has learned how to conduct survey and use survey data. Discusses how to get started in conducting a graduate survey. Explains how to design survey instrument, draft questions, test survey, distribute survey,…

This review of case studies of five academic libraries in institutions that have ceased operation notes background, time factors, disposition of library collections, and nature of bankruptcy. Guidelines for closing (stabilizing and documenting collection, estimating worth of collection, obligations to government) are presented. Eight sources are…

Offers tips to high school publication staff members on planning a survey, preparing the survey form, conducting the survey, tabulating the results, and preparing the survey as a readable, interesting feature. (GT)

These two articles address the rising costs of monographs and serials in libraries and suggest strategies for coping with inflationary trends. Highlights include factors in price increases; gathering accurate data on the local budget; domestic and foreign price fluctuations; the increase in new journal titles; and publisher growth policies and…

Discusses ways a high school newspaper adviser can help staff members conduct a student sex survey in a thorough and responsible manner; notes potential problems in conducting and publishing results of such a survey. (GT)

With the advent of online searching, the terminology available for topic searching has greatly expanded and deepened. CD-ROMs and computerized databases available through online search services offer a variety of approaches to research in physical education. The article explains the use of computerized databases in an interdisciplinary field. (SM)

Educational practitioners tend to resist or avoid doing educational research primarily for two reasons: their prior experience with statistics, computers, and research design has produced insecurity and anxiety; and, they have acquired a basic misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of research. Good research should be both technically sound…

Collaborative action research, conducted by teams of practitioners, is a process that enables teachers: (1) to improve student learning, (2) to improve their own practice, (3) to contribute to the development of their own profession, and (4) to overcome the isolation commonly experienced by classroom teachers. By promoting collegial relationships…

This book offers a resource guide for qualitative researchers in education, discussing data collection techniques, data analysis, reporting, and the issues of validity, reliability, and ethics. Part 1 reviews the nature and design of qualitative research; it discusses various types of qualitative research (including case studies), and how to…

Opinion polls are playing an increasingly important role in decision making in higher education. Drawing from the experiences of one university polling organization, this article discusses issues frequently encountered in polling, productive and unproductive resolutions of these issues, and guidelines for conducting high-quality campus polls.…

Reports on output measures that can give children's librarians additional information to better control collections and make better selection and weeding decisions. Statistical comparisons utilizing circulation data (comparing circulation year to year, circulation to patrons served, circulation to number of materials owned) and availability of…

This book offers advice and information to help librarians manage and interact with computer technology in their institutions. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a background in systems librarianship, outlining the skills that may be needed and defining the specialty. Chapters 3 and 4 show how traditional library skills such as the organization of knowledge…

This guide from the Public Libraries Association (PLA) describes a planning process to be used by individual library systems to establish their own standards appropriate to local conditions and needs; design strategies to reach those needs; and inaugurate a planning cycle that involves continuous monitoring of progress and regular adjustment of…