Recruiting participants through gatekeepers has been widely discussed in qualitative research. However, when a sampling frame is not available, surveying through gatekeepers can also be important for quantitative studies. We used three sampling methods to survey guardians of University students: (a) a gatekeeper variant of the time-space sampling,…

Ragin's Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is often used with small to medium samples where the researcher has good case knowledge. Employing it to analyse large survey datasets, without in-depth case knowledge, raises new challenges. We present ways of addressing these challenges. We first report a single QCA result from a configurational…

Four potential biases incurred by using a sample of wives of male respondents as a sample of women for sex comparisons of the occupational attainment process were examined and empirically assessed. Using data from the Wisconsin longitudinal study of high school seniors, the extent and nature of two potential biases were considered: (1) a sampling…

Statistics used to estimate the population correlation ratio were reviewed and evaluated. The sampling distributions of Kelly's and Hays' statistics were studied empirically by computer simulation within the context of a three level one-way fixed effects analysis of variance design. (Author/RC)

Evaluations involving nonrandom assignment to treatment or control groups are vulnerable to an accidental or intentional confounding of a selection effect with the treatment effect. Two techniques, discriminant analysis and base expectancy analysis, permit separate estimation of the selection and treatment effects in the final results. (Author/CTM)

A study was conducted at Los Angeles Pierce College (LAPC) to test the relative reliability of small-sample telephone interviewing and large-sample mailings with postcard and telephone reminders for student follow-up. The study involved conducting a telephone survey of 245 former students who had enrolled at LAPC in four program areas, and a mail…

Conducting observational research in a cross-cultural context invokes a unique set of difficulties. This paper describes sources of bias and threats to validity that are specific to cross-cultural research. It describes problems of cross-cultural research designs for descriptive studies, comparative research, and experimental research and outlines…

This study found that accuracy in predicting the out-of-home placement of children with severe disabilities increased little in a large cross-sectional sample (n=5,992) over a smaller semilongitudinal sample (n=141). Factors such as age, adaptive and maladaptive behavior, and ethnicity are discussed. (Author/JDD)

Abuses and misuses of statistics are frequent. This digest attempts to warn against these in three broad classes of pitfalls: sources of bias, errors of methodology, and misinterpretation of results. Sources of bias are conditions or circumstances that affect the external validity of statistical results. In order for a researcher to make…

Among the variables contributing to the therapeutic relationship between counselor and client, empathy has received much attention in counseling process research. Most of this research has relied on brief segments as a sampling unit; seldom have these segments been compared with entire counseling sessions. Segments of sessions and entire sessions…

Research on assessing the cultural fairness of individual test items is reviewed, with emphasis on Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model. As defined in this review, differential item characteristics are exhibited when examinees from one group have a lower probability of answering correctly than do examinees of equal ability from another group.…

Project TALENT, a large scale, long range, longitudinal study, is designed primarily to provide insights into the characteristics and development of American adolescents. In order to compare trends in test results, a comprehensive battery of Psychological, educational, and personality measures were administered to participants in the 1960, 1970,…

Evidence is presented that strengthens the argument against comparison group research strategies. Results from a study of youth attitudes related to the California Conservation Corps involving 528 participants and 668 comparisons indicate that the comparison group may not adequately represent the nontreatment state. (SLD)

This article examines statistical issues raised when standard methods are used to analyze educable placement data to determine possible racial discrimination. An alternate approach is offered that detects disparities while avoiding the pitfalls of present methodologies. (BS)

Written to assist future researchers in conducting cross-national studies of classroom behaviors, this study indicates a number of factors which may reduce the validity of comparisons made. It is based on an investigation which explored the feasibility of using the Activities Categories Instrument and the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories…