This is the second of a series of reports on trends in national community college enrollments. National community college enrollments continue to decrease, with variations at the state and local levels. The report also examines completion rates published by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) based on institutional level reporting, and those…

There has been much discussion about quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in different disciplines. In the behavioural and social sciences, these two paradigms are compared to reveal their relative strengths and weaknesses. But the debate about both traditions has commonly taken place in academic books. It is hard to find an article…

This paper presents two studies in which an empirical approach was taken to understand and explain form generation and decisions taken in the design process. In particular, the activities addressing aesthetic aspects when exteriorising form ideas in the design process have been the focus of the present study. Diary methods were the starting point…

Relational data from a representative sample of high school students matched with data from their parents (N=3,988) are used to examine patterns of dyadic agreement and disagreement in reports of family life. The level of agreement is uniformly low regardless of the aspect of family life being reported on. (Author)

The two problems examined were the effect of observers in the typical classroom and the possibility of regional bias in local observers' data. (LN)

Australian efforts to assess the usefulness of performance indicators (PI) for evaluating higher education are chronicled. It is suggested that key issues must be resolved before PI can be fully embraced. These include aspects of data gathering and analysis, purpose for using PI, quality of data, and adequacy of indicators. (MSE)

Each year, from 1982 to 1986, the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois conducted a study called the Index of Quality of Public Library Service. For this study, unobtrusive tests of reference service and book availability were performed annually in Illinois Public Libraries. When the results from rural libraries were compared with…

The benefits and problems of comparing faculty salaries are evaluated. The primary source of information for this evaluation is the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP's) summer Bulletin. The problems listed include: (1) institutional variations in the methodology of data collection; (2) the conversion of 12-month salaries to a…

Compared what personnel managers in 1981 (N=174) considered important resume components, with what personnel managers in 1974 considered important. The largest differences were that more businesses in 1981 rated listing college courses as important, and more businesses in 1974 thought marital status was important. (RC)

A study examined the various laws and practices in six states regarding nonmonetary eligibility for state unemployment insurance programs and assessed the effects of these laws and policies on the states' ability to identify and reject unemployment insurance claimants who fail to meet the requirements. Eligibility for unemployment insurance in all…

This publication is a guide with the materials necessary for leading a workshop session on Chapter 1 schoolwide project evaluations aimed at meeting federal accountability requirements. As the packet points out, elementary school, middle school, and secondary school projects differ from the traditional Chapter 1 delivery models and as a…

In order to "cut through the jargon of the multifaceted field of evaluative research", 21 evaluation models representing a range of possibilities were identified (via literature review) and compared in terms of purpose and five basic phases applicable to rural development. Evaluation was defined as "the systematic examination of a…

A review of followup study research is reported which focused on issues and trends in the evaluation of vocational education programs and their implications for human resource development. The analysis of representative studies selected from a survey of the literature is divided into four sections, one for each of four types of studies: (1)…

A nonmetric multidimensional scaling technique was employed to determine the characteristics of the ideal professor. Subsequently, the results were compared across varying levels of program personnel, including administrators, faculty, staff and students. Centered in a relatively self-contained academic program of a large midwestern university,…

Texas' and Oregon's experiences in building a performance measurement and reporting information system (PMRIS) for their adult literacy programs were compared. The Oregon PMRIS development effort was a multiyear project involving 10 programs and calling for collection/reporting of data regarding 10 of 272 benchmarks recommended by the Oregon…