The objective of this qualitative study was to identify and explain challenges encountered by academic librarians when trying to incorporate evidence into their practice. The findings resulted in the identification of five main determinants that act as either obstacles or enablers of evidence use. The identification of these determinants provide…

Purpose: Issues such as managing brand image, assessing advertising medium effectiveness and collecting market intelligence are common practice for higher education institutions (HEIs). Consequently, understanding the information needs of potential students to the HEI when they make their decisions is paramount. The aim of this survey is to…

A U.S. President will be no better at his job than the information he gets. Above all else, he needs an early warning system about ongoing domestic programs. (Author/MBR)

For purposes of categorizing those things that perhaps determine the extent to which evaluation findings will be utilized, four sets of factors are considered in this paper: (1) the decision maker/decision process, (2) the program and social context, (3) the nature of the evaluator , and (4) the evaluation process/evaluation report. (Author/RC)

Policy Implications Analysis (PIA) is a tool designed to maximize the likelihood that an evaluation report will have an impact on decision-making. PIA was designed to help people planning and conducting evaluations tailor their information so that it has optimal potential for being used and acted upon. This paper describes the development and…

The information system for the Los Angeles City School District has been designed to provide relevant information in a readily available and concise manner. Equally important to the effectiveness of the information system, however, is that the decisionmaker have the capability to actually use the information. This report describes an in-service…

Improvement in education clearly depends on improved management practice, which, in turn, depends on more effective information systems. The kind of management information systems needed in education in the seventies is referred to in the literature as a "fourth generation" system, one that focuses on the decision process and is developed in terms…

Proposes an instructional program monitoring system which would gather, tabulate, and analyze -- at a central source and at regular intervals -- some continuous evidence of the degree to which defined program goals are being attained. (Author)

As the procedures of evaluation research have developed during recent years, it has become clear that the results of evaluation studies have failed to provide policy decision makers with useful information. An approach towards designing and implementing more useful evaluations--the stakeholder survey--is discussed. Stakeholders are individuals, or…

Available from: Policy Studies Journal, 361 Lincoln Hall, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, $2.50 single copy.

The effective communication of desired information between the generator and the user requires one to accommodate variances in decision-making style, behavior, and context. The premise that decision making in organizations follows the classic rational model is discussed. (Author/MLW)

Organizations systematically gather more information than they use, yet continue to ask for more. This may be partially explained by the fact that the use of information is embedded in social norms that make it highly symbolic. Implications of such a pattern of information use are discussed. (Author/WD)

The Attitude Information System should provide a means of achieving the accuracy and credibility of survey techniques, the speed and specificity of public opinion polls, and the easy access of management information systems for crucial information about attitudes of the university constituency. (Author)

Data and information needs of college administrators are discussed, along with the uses of information to support decisionmaking. Difficulties in applying information technology to the administration of higher education are briefly reviewed. Data and information are discussed both in definitional and functional terms. Data are defined as either…

Selecting an appropriate school district information system means obtaining the best features while sacrificing few that are desirable. Evaluation criteria include scope of work; integration of modules; accuracy of attendance module; checking "power" for attendance; a fast scheduler; graduation requirements capabilities; and before adoption,…