Purpose: This article presents focus groups as a method to enhance questionnaire design to frame and test items for a mass survey on corruption and austerity in democracy. Such methodology lacks systematization when it comes to the description of implementation procedures and the discussion of effective contribution to the development of survey…

This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the longitudinal kindergarten-fourth grade (K-4) data file of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). It mainly provides information specific to the fourth-grade round of data collection. The first chapter provides an overview of the…

This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the longitudinal kindergarten-fourth grade (K-4) public-use data file of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), which includes the first release of the public version of the third-grade data. This manual mainly provides information specific…

Solve serious behavior challenges in K-8 classrooms with this easy-to-use book, the first practical guide to the research-proven Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model. Developed by some of the most respected authorities on positive behavior support, this innovative model gives school-based teams a five-step plan for reducing problems unresolved by…

A study was conducted to identify, examine and suggest a set of broad principles effective in the development of 4-H club programs in the United States and Tennessee. Eighty principles of successful 4-H Club work gleaned from related literature were tested in terms of: their acceptance as principles by two panels of experts; panel agreement to the…

The first 15 pages of the manual provide: (1) background information on the importance of adult education, the need for adult education statistics, the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), and the scope of the term adult education; (2) the application of ISCED to adult education and the ISCED classifications (levels, fields,…

The basic qualities which questionnaires must have in order to serve best the purpose for which they are designed are emphasized. A description of the preliminary planning necessary to questionnaire construction, as well as the construction of the form itself, is provided. Various types of questionaire items and the advantages and disadvantages of…

This brief guide to interview training in survey research is designed for persons without previous training or experience in interviewing. Basic techniques of interviewing are presented in such a manner as to facilitate the training of persons with varying educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Topics include: the interviewer's role in the…

This report provides guidance and documentation for users of the public release for the combined base-year and first follow-up data of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). It provides extensive documentation of the content of the data files and how to access and manipulate them. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to ELS:2002. It…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)'s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) provides internationally comparative data about students' reading achievement in primary school (the fourth grade in most participating countries). PIRLS also provides extensive information about the home and…

Tips on constructing survey instruments and examples of alternative formats for questionnaire items are provided in this paper. The 18 tips cover such areas as instructions for respondents, wording of questionnaire items, grouping of items, handling of difficult or sensitive questions, fixed-response items, open-ended questions, and questionnaire…

An outcome of a study of adult basic education programs initiated three years ago by the Columbia University Center of Adult Education, the evaluation guide with its step-by-step instructions can be used for both formative and summative evaluations of adult basic education programs. Background research involved in this publication included direct…

This handbook endeavors to provide information and advice to noncommercial broadcasting stations on how to perform ascertainment studies in conformance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. Additional suggestions are made to enable stations to obtain in-depth information about community needs, wants, and interests. The…

These guidebooks were designed to help central office personnel, principals, teachers, and members of the community to plan and conduct a community survey. The main volume--the staff handbook--describes seven tasks involved in planning and conducting the survey and offers guidelines for the survey staff to follow. The project director's guidebook…

Field-tested procedures to collect followup data on former students of vocational education programs are described in the document. The procedures presented are designed to facilitate the collection, analysis, and reporting of information on jobs obtained and their relationship to training programs, and the income, geographic mobility, and the…