This chapter provides examples of innovative methods and tools to collect, analyze, and report both quantitative and qualitative data in student affairs assessment.

Evidence of comparability is generally needed whenever there are variations in the conditions of an assessment administration, including variations introduced by the administration of an assessment on multiple digital devices (e.g., tablet, laptop, desktop). This article is meant to provide a comprehensive examination of issues relevant to the…

Educators and experts alike have come to a growing realization that academic factors alone do not tell the whole story of what it means to successfully navigate the educational system through high school and into higher education or the workplace. This national report from "Education Week" investigates the role that student engagement…

This article investigates how activity theory can help research a constructionist community. We present a constructionist activity model called CONstructionism Through ACtivity Theory (CONTACT) model and explain how it can be used to analyse the constructionist activity in knowledge building communities. We then illustrate the model through its…

In this paper, we take a designer's look at how the activities and data of learning and assessment can be structured in immersive virtual game environments called Massively Multi-Player Online Games (MMOG). In doing so, we examine the channels of evidence through which learning and assessment activities are derived in MMOGs, offering examples of…

Computer assisted guidance systems may adapt well to various models of academic advising, and they have the ability to address the challenge of meeting the diverse advising needs of community college students without sacrificing the integrity of academic advising (Fowkes & McWhirter, 2007). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to assess…

This article presents a method for computer-aided tutor evaluation: Bayesian Networks are used for organizing the collected data about tutors and for enabling accurate estimations and predictions about future tutor behavior. The model provides indications about each tutor's strengths and weaknesses, which enables the evaluator to exploit strengths…

The Timed Interval Categorical Observation Recorder (TICOR), a portable, battery powered microcomputer designed to automate the collection of sequential and simultaneous behavioral observations and their associated durations, was developed to overcome problems in gathering subtle interaction analysis data characterized by sequential flow of…

This report presents a comprehensive discussion of issues affecting the use of ethnographic research methods in bilingual education classroom research. Quantitative methods alone have not provided an adequate understanding of how the bilingual classroom operates, the meaningful features of the classroom, how children learn, and what…

Discusses computerized management information systems (MIS) data in mental health program evaluation. Using an actual evaluation with data from the Multi-State Information System as an example, practical problems in collecting and assembling useful information are presented. MIS data can be useful; however, care must be taken to assure the quality…

Emphasizing changes brought about in the social sciences by the electronic computer, this book explains to journalists the uses of quantitative methods and tools for gathering and preparing the news story. Chapters include "The Need for New Tools,""Getting Used to Numbers,""Concepts, Models, and Hypothesis…

This document, the second of two volumes, completes the report of a Lilly Endowment, Inc. funded project whose major objective was to establish a process for both teachers and students to be involved in the field testing or evaluation of microcomputer software. Workshops were held in nine Indiana school corporations where more than 2,300 students…

Article describes the computer-based project in Barstow, California. The project seeks determination of students' learning achievements and whether these learning levels are rising at an acceptable rate to meet predetermined goals. (HB)

New ways of obtaining environmental data are being developed to meet the demand for comprehensive, accurate, and timely information on the environment. This article examines four developments that are transforming the entire field of environmental measurement: spectroscopy; satellite transmission of environmental data; remote sensing; and…

Practicality is the hallmark of this physical education research manual. It focuses on applications with which investigators in this field typically are concerned; numerous examples clarify these points. All phases of research are covered, beginning with writing mechanics and style and a blueprint of the chapters that comprise the creditable…