This study investigated the relationship between the dimensionality of behaviorally anchored scales during construction and during their use. It was hypothesized that as the agreement among raters in assigning behaviors to dimensions increased, there would be an increase in the stability of the structure of the dimensions and in their independence…

International studies like PISA use context student or school questionnaires to collect data on student family background, attitudes and learning context. Questionnaire constructs are typically measured using dichotomous or Likert-type items. Scaling of questionnaire items in order to obtain measures of family background, student attitudes or…

Encompassing the years between 1969 and 1979, this study of 18 standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs) attempted to determine if changes in selected economic indicators were correlated with changes in teacher salaries. Researchers looked at changes in consumer price indices, per capita personal income, and average beginning teachers'…

Twenty per cent of 8400 questionnaires distributed in 1977 to a representative sampling of public libraries throughout Massachusetts were returned and analyzed. Those returned were entirely representative of the state's population and of the size of library services represented, although communities with the most "active" library…

This research introduced resilience characteristics to study the adjustment of international graduate students at American universities. The purpose of the study was to explore relationships among resilience characteristics and background factors; among resilience characteristics and adjustment problem areas; and among adjustment problem areas and…

Crime and vandalism on farms is possibly a symptom of rural youth delinquency and of concern to rural educators. This study of experience of Tennessee farmers with crime and vandalism is intended to provide a measure of the present social condition of rural society. Questionnaires were mailed to a weighted sample of farm operators in all Tennessee…

Questions have been raised about the status of English as a second language (ESL) in colleges and universities, especially with regard to ESL credit, admission of ESL students, and tenure for ESL instructors. These questions prompted Portland State University (Oregon) to send a questionnaire dealing with the topic to the directors of 174 programs…

Two types of research--informal interviews and a questionnaire survey--were conducted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to assess teacher perceptions of regional school accreditation by SACS and to aid in SACS consultations and schools' staff development programs. The questionnaire survey compared teacher expectations of…

In an effort to determine differences between students who respond to surveys and those who do not, New Mexico State University at Alamogordo (NMSU-A) undertook a study of students in fall 1992. Students were asked to complete an 18-item questionnaire while waiting in lines during registration. The 1,618 out of 2,114 (76.5%) students who completed…

This study sought to determine: (1) what children understand about "chance" when they begin secondary school?; and (2) how common and how influential the use of informal heuristics, approaches, and biases is in their thinking about probability in the school context. Children's understanding of chance, attributions of events to…

A questionnaire survey of parents and students in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District (HISD) sought their assessment of the magnet schools program started by HISD in 1975 to comply with a court desegregation order. Respondents included 1,310 parents (of 20,000 surveyed) and 8,675 elementary and secondary students (of 12,000 surveyed).…

An Arabic translation of the "Work Environment Scale" was administered to the employees of Riyadh University's College of Education in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of gathering data useful in administrative decision-making. The survey investigated the work environment of the college as it is perceived by three distinct groups: the…

The purpose of this study was to examine characteristics and perceptions of women who hold administrative positions and of women teachers who may aspire to administrative positions in public or private elementary and secondary education. Specifically, the study focused on the following questions: What traditional personal and social definitions of…

This presentation is an informal discussion of a questionnaire context effect which led to an erroneous conclusion in analysis of data from the Monitoring the Future project; an annual survey of high school seniors that has occurred since 1975, and that focuses heavily on their drug use and attitudes about drugs. In 1980, the researchers reported…

The public reaction to the proposal that the Australian government should reintroduce fees for tertiary education was surveyed in 1985. The influence of the proposal on the way people would vote in a federal election was also investigated. The fee would be between $900 and $1,500 per year for full-time tertiary education. As part of a McNair…