Systems for learning and producing knowledge, such as career and technical education (CTE), often reproduce inequities unless an equity-focused lens is used when designing, implementing, and evaluating programs. This framework presents guidance for conducting CTE research with an intentional focus on equity. Developed by the CTE Research Network's…

Descriptive analyses of socially important or theoretically interesting phenomena and trends are a vital component of research in the behavioral, social, economic, and health sciences. Such analyses yield reliable results when using representative individual participant data (IPD) from studies with complex survey designs, including educational…

Organizational relationships are complex. Employees do their work as individuals, but also as members of larger teams. They exist within various social networks, both within and spanning organizations. Multilevel theory is at the core of the organizational sciences, and unpacking multilevel relationships is fundamental to the challenges faced…

Packed with new topics that reflect today's challenges, the Sixth Edition of the bestselling "How to Conduct Surveys" guides readers through the process of developing their own rigorous surveys and evaluating the credibility and transparency of surveys created by others. Offering practical, step-by-step advice and written in the same…

Suppose an education researcher wants to test the impact of a high school drop-out prevention intervention in which at-risk students attend classes to receive intensive summer school instruction. The district will allow the researcher to randomly assign students to the treatment classes or to the control group. Half of the students (the treatment…

Teacher research is an extension of good teaching, observing students closely, analyzing their needs, and adjusting the curriculum to fit the needs of all. In this completely updated second edition of their definitive work, Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power present a framework for teacher research along with an extensive collection of…

Using data strategically to guide decisions and actions can have a positive effect on education practices and processes. This facilitation guide shows education data teams how to move beyond simply reporting data to applying data to direct strategic action. Using guiding questions, suggested activities, and activity forms, this guide provides…

Since its inception, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has been committed to the practice of documenting its statistical methods for its customers and of seeking to avoid misinterpretation of its published data. The reason for this policy is to assure customers that proper statistical standards and techniques have been observed,…

This paper helps researchers develop criteria for conducting surveys. Cost considerations frame the paper's suggestions. Specifically, the text advises that researchers consider the human and material resources needed, type of survey instrument, medium for conducting the survey (mail, telephone, personal interview, etc.), data analysis…

This report compares three approaches to descriptive research, focusing on the kinds of descriptions developed and on the methods used to develop the descriptions. The main emphasis in all three approaches is on verbal data. In these approaches the importance of interpretation and its intuitive nature are emphasized. The three approaches, however,…

Advances practices for designing, analyzing, and reporting communication research. Focuses on improving researchers' abilities to cumulate results across studies and improving the utility of the individual study. Concludes by summarizing the set of propositions advocated. (SG)

Describes elements to look for when reading four identifiable sections of a research report: background and literature review, methodology and procedures, analysis, findings or summary. Literature review as prologue to author's argument, choices in design of a study, research participants, choices involved in analysis, and implications of findings…

Professional evaluators are often called upon to analyze data produced by a catastrophically inadequate evaluation design. A remedial strategy involving diagnosis of error, application of a corrective procedure and sensitization of program personnel of the need for a more sophisticated stance, is proposed and illustrated with a case study.…

This data file user's manual documents the procedures used to collect and process high school transcripts for a large sample of the younger cohort (1980 sophomores) in the High School and Beyond survey. The manual provides the user with the technical assistance needed to use the computer file and also discusses the following: (1) sample design for…

This paper is based on the premise that relatively little is known about how to improve validity in qualitative research and less is known about how to estimate validity in studies conducted by others. The purpose of the study was to describe the conceptualization of validity in qualitative inquiry to determine how it was used by the author of a…