This article presents an experiential model for community-engaged research that understands communities as living meshworks of embodied human beings, material circumstances, and affective environments. We first trace how community organizations and academics must increasingly respond to a push for hard data. Using an analysis of a national…

This booklet is intended to serve as a step-by-step layman's guide to conducting a community survey, tabulating the findings of the survey, and presenting a final report of the survey findings. It is written in simple nontechnical language and contains numerous examples of various survey forms and procedures. Among the major topics discussed are:…

The fifth of a series of brief reports on the study of mental retardation in a Canadian province covers a period of approximately one year (September, 1969, through November, 1970). The period under review is primarily one of data gathering with the emphasis on the adequacy of the sampling procedure, follow up of incomplete interviews, and tapping…

This book presents hands-on information on how to plan, administer, and analyze opinion polls. Guidance is also offered on how to make this strategy accessible to public interest groups. Several examples, checklists, warnings of possible pitfalls, and lists of material and human resources occur throughout the chapters. Major sections address the…

In response to a request by the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the methodological soundness of current population estimates of the number of homeless chronically mentally ill persons, and proposed several options for estimating the size of this population. The GAO reviewed…

This paper provides an overview of telephone survey research by colleges and universities and reports on comparisons between mail survey respondents and non-respondents who were later contacted by telephone. After an introduction, the paper discusses the various steps of a telephone survey project. These include: (1) identifying the population to…

Information is provided on the procedures and instruments used to conduct the Coast Community Colleges 1980 Telephone Survey as an aid for those planning to undertake a similar study. After an introductory section, Section II discusses study planning, outlining the roles of an executive steering committee made up of key administrators, a technical…

The purpose of this guide is to provide local Head Start program decision-makers with a tool that will be useful in developing needs assessments appropriate to their communities, whether urban or rural. Although the guide focused on community needs assessments for planning mainstream services for children with handicapping conditions, its…

This manual provides guidelines, practical suggestions, and technical information for conducting a comprehensive child development needs survey, primarily at the county or multi-county level. Included are: (1) general guidelines, (2) a 37-item needs assessment survey form and (3) appendices concerning (a) sample selection, (b) interviewer…

Techniques for estimating the labor supply in any locality from a town and its surrounding rural area to a county or multi-county area are presented. The labor supply in a community can be estimated by many means, including registrations of the unemployed, newspaper advertisements, and a census-type sampling survey of the population.…

Five data collection techniques and two sampling methods were examined in terms of costs, rates of return, quality of the data collected, and degree of representativeness in assessing needs and interests of public television viewers in rural areas. Data collection techniques were (1) mail only, (2) mail incentive, (3) telephone only, (4) mail and…

A guide showing how the various aspects of rural life may be examined and how the facts about conditions of rural populations may be found and analyzed is presented in this manual. The manual is intended for officials in government, colleges, institutions training rural welfare workers, or others who may be involved in organizing and conducting…

Describes a quick, economical community needs assessment conducted by Gainesville College, focusing on methodology and use of findings. Explains respondent selection and data collection methods for three groups: community leaders, who were interviewed in small groups using a community reconnaissance method; high school principals; and counselors,…

This paper reports on findings of the first of a series of cross-sectional surveys to evaluate a community-based child abuse prevention initiative in Boston (Massachusetts). The survey assessed social support, attitudes about parenting, perceptions of the neighborhood, and ways in which these relate to child abuse. (Author/DB)

A data-collection model is presented for the gathering of timely information on population demographic characteristics, as well as economic, educational, environmental, and social trends. First, the paper discusses the importance of anticipating internal and external changes and establishing priorities for resource allocation in the design of a…