Describes the Local Child Welfare Services Self-Assessment Manual. The concept of self-assessment, the format of the instruments, rules for checklist administration and summation of responses, as well as field testing procedures, selected results and project outcomes and plans for dissemination are discussed. (Author/RH)

External and implementation factors and their potential threats to field test validity and the practical realities of the field testing process on results are discussed. External factors include site selection, negotiations, contracts, site monitoring, training, and type of product. Implementation factors include motivation, dependence on local…

Advocates the use of randomized field trials to evaluate the effectiveness of educational reform programs. To be useful, evidence from randomized field trails must be disseminated to policymakers and the public. Provides graph showing that since its inception, the "American Education Research Journal" has published only 35 articles…

Identifies stages in the process of educational software development: pre-specification stage in which educators identify the software's educational considerations; specification stage in which educators and programers work together to develop the program; documentation stage; field testing stage; and support stage. (MBR)

Presents 2 complementary techniques for promoting success in computer-based exploration environments for arithmetic instruction. Semantic constraints are explained, heuristic guidance is discussed, use of the techniques for subtraction instruction is described, and field testing with students in grades 1-3 is briefly discussed. (25 references)…

Makes a case for the production of printed subject indexes and describes the MICROSPI package, which allows the production of NEPHIS (NEsted PHrase Indexing System) and KWAC (Key Word And Context) indexes on a microcomputer. (Author/MBR)

Discusses the importance of the response time of an online public catalog and its capacity to support multiple users without system degradation; outlines general requirements of an online catalog; explains the difference between menu and command systems; defines response time; and suggests ways of testing an online system accurately. (EM)

Representatives of six vendors of online library systems address key issues related to system performance: designing, configuring and sizing systems; establishing performance criteria; using benchmark and acceptance tests; the risks of miscalculations; vendor, consultant, and library roles; and related topics. (Author/EM)

Five library consultants address issues that affect online system performance: options in system design that relate to diverse library requirements; criteria that most affect performance; benchmark tests and sizing criteria; minimalizing the risks of miscalculation; and the roles and responsibilities of vendors, libraries, and consultants.…

Addresses the role of the university in industry-education collaboration and presents a case study of collaboration between industry and a university-based interdisciplinary team. In this case study, the final training program and training staff were strengthened as a result of the collaborative field-testing process. (CT)

Outlines problems faced by software publishers in providing instructionally valid computer assisted instruction. A research design undertaken by Edu-Ware Services, Inc., directed at measuring instructional validity and utility of software offered to institutions and consumers, is described noting tests, evaluation, data submission and reduction,…

Examines the barriers within the environmental technology industry to adopting the use of field analytic instrumentation. Barriers are discussed in three main categories: legislative, regulatory, and institutional. A table lists the barriers and their impact on the adoption of new technologies. (MDH)

This chapter presents Hutchinson's Metamethodology, which is a methodology for building methodologies. The methodology is composed of a set of rules and procedures that, when followed and applied to any problem area, will result in a systematic set of procedures for dealing with that problem area. The following major processes of the methodology…

Describes a series of 12 books for use in high schools that cover aspects of women's lives in American society. The books are designed to counter the White male bias of the curriculum by exploring the history and culture of women. Field testing activities are described. (Author/RH)

Describes research and evaluation on the Information Mapping method of structured analysis and writing of training and reference documents to illustrate how a flaw in research design can cause "little or no effect" results. Information retrieval experiments, learning experiments, and field tests are examined for problems, including size…