This article presents the MERITS Plus model, a conceptual framework developed during qualitative research into the process of academic transition and the impact of educational choices upon learner identity. The article considers some of the methodological challenges faced by qualitative researchers, and how effective the use of a conceptual…

This protocol guided the review of research that informs the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide entitled "Strategies for Postsecondary Students in Developmental Education -- A Practice Guide for College and University Administrators, Advisors, and Faculty." This protocol was used in conjunction with the "WWC Procedures…

Support services for students with disabilities is now a distinct field of practice in higher education, with a significant increase in the number of students receiving services, programs to serve them, and professionals who oversee the programs. The field has professional and program standards, a code of ethics, and a disability service specific…

Information on the divergence between student numbers and delivery hours for the period 2002 to 2007 is provided in this technical paper. The change in hours from one year to the next is decomposed into three effects, one of which is "hours inflation", whereby nominal hours increase over time for the same unit of competency or module.…

A case study of a survey of new students made at a postsecondary vocational-technical school illustrates several sampling problems, including sample size, target population definition, determination of research purposes, costs, error tolerance, accuracy, and interpretation of research results for use by policymakers. (RW)

The use of nominal group technique in course evaluation has these advantages: it restricts the researcher's influence, encourages respondents to frame their own responses, sustains individual autonomy during group pressure, and provides respondents with knowledge of the full range of possible responses. However, it also underestimates group…

Surveys over 30 analyses, written in the years 1965-80, of the cost effectiveness of vocational training in the United Kingdom. Discusses the analyses' objectives and outcomes and emphasizes methodological developments regarding costing models, assessments of effectiveness, and procedures for relating, interpreting, and presenting evidence.…

The article provides an overview of research needs in vocational education; lists some problem areas; discusses research methods and statistical treatment of data; and touches upon sponsorship, dissemination, and future research challenges. (MW)

Workers' education (WE) is that sector of adult education which caters to adults in their capacity as workers, and especially as members of workers' organizations. With regard to WE, the usual problems of collecting education are compounded for the following reasons: it has marginal status in the national educational systems; it is delivered by…

Although previous conceptualizations have made distinctions among two types of research, this paper suggests conceptual distinctions among three types of research: basic, applied, and evaluation. In an evolving field, distinctions are based on recent writings and the elaboration of evaluation research as different in emphasis from basic and…

Research methodologies are "word-specific," that is, they assume frames of reference which do not include all of reality. They are like the "sets" in mathematics in which axioms apply only within certain realities. (Parallel lines do converge, for example, on the horizon; the geometric postulate that says they do not holds only for the set of a…

Study of college faculty has been hampered by the variation in types of institutions, the difficulty of obtaining an accurate faculty sample, and poor response rates to large-scale surveys. This document examines various approaches to conducting large-scale faculty surveys, and describes a suggested procedure to mitigate methodological problems.…

This paper compares the results of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Carnegie surveys of postsecondary faculty and notes the differently constructed samples, the different response rates, and different weighting schemes in analysis and interpretation. Inconsistencies in the surveys' results are identified and methodological…

This paper focuses on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education, broadly considered. It addresses the following questions: (1) What models or programs of transition exist? (2) On what basis can we say one transition program is more effective than another? In other words, how is successful transition defined? (3) How are…

This monograph contains five papers based on issues that were originally examined at a National Association of Industrial and Technical Teacher Educators symposium that was conducted during the 1983 American Vocational Association convention in Anaheim, California. Included in the monograph are the following papers: "Research in Industrial…