All cognitive diagnostic models that evaluate educational test data require a Q-matrix that combines every item in a test with the required cognitive skills for each item to be answered correctly. Generally, the Q-matrix is constructed by education experts' judgment, leading to some uncertainty in its elements. Various statistical methods are…

Inequality often appears in linked pairs of variables. Examples include schooling and income, income and consumption, and wealth and happiness. Consider the famous words of Veblen: "wealth confers honor." Understanding inequality requires understanding input inequality, outcome inequality, and the relation between the two--in both…

This systematic review establishes a comprehensive understanding of research trends and the findings of current studies that focus on small-group communication in post-secondary online courses. The review includes 18 journal articles which are categorised and summarised on the basis of their common themes. This review finds that a majority of the…

Discussions of efficiency among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are often missing in academic conversations. This article seeks to assess efficiency of individual HBCUs using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a non-parametric technique that can synthesize multiple inputs and outputs to determine a single efficiency score for…

Increasingly universities are becoming commercial enterprises and their core activities of teaching and research subject to business imperatives. This paper reviews the research costing methodologies of 17 Australian universities. Tension between Competition Law and Competitive Neutrality exists which could be resolved through improved costing and…

The purpose of this study was to compare multiple regression with canonical analysis in order to introduce a new, policy relevant methodology to the literature on production functions. Findings from this study confirmed the results of past inquiries that found a relationship between the inputs to schooling and measures of student achievement. A…

Examines research reported in major books and journals of comparative education since 1977, focusing on challenges to established research traditions and the field's responses. Highlights work directing attention to new subjects of inquiry and challenging the nation-state as the exclusive research framework, input-output models and dominant…

This and the next issue of "Organization Science" contain eight papers that deal with the process of organizational change. The five papers in this issue feature the theory of method and practice of researchers engaged in longitudinal field studies aimed at understanding processes of organizational change. (MLF)

This study gives emphasis to two methodologies for both qualitative and quantitative aspects of home economics research. Strengths and weaknesses of benefit-cost analysis and cost effectiveness analysis are examined. Citation analysis and effort reporting are also discussed. (CT)

Recent methodological advances are described that enable the analyst to extract additional information from the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology, including goal programming to develop cross-efficiencies, cluster analysis, analysis of variance, and pooled cross section time-series analysis. Some shortcomings of DEA are discussed. (LMO)

Discusses areas needing revision in the manual "Output Measures for Public Libraries," i.e., measurement objectives, research skills of output measures users, management versus research contexts, relating inputs to outputs, problems in data collection, user versus library performance, sample sizes, interpretation of output measure…

First generation resource allocation studies examined relationships between student learning and the availability of resources to a school or district. This article analyzes the transition from these early inquiries to more recent studies of resource flow into the individual classroom, and considers the contributions economists can make to such…

A general convex polytope technique for exploratory data analysis and its particular application to analyzing the input-output relationship in universities is discussed. Its use is illustrated by means of a simple analysis of data from Australian universities. (MLW)

Uses input-output analysis to develop a model that assesses the effect of changes in final-demand work on employees at a South Carolina community college. Model uses matrices and the Leontief inverse function to monitor employee workload impact and analyze simulated scenarios. (YKH)

Five performance measures suggested for use in public libraries are discussed in relation to corporate information centers: corporate awareness of library services; clients as percentage of jurisdiction population; reference transactions per capita; reference fill rate; timeliness of information delivery. Planning and survey questionnaires for…