Some procedures for estimating internal consistency reliability may be superior mathematically to the more commonly used methods such as Coefficient Alpha. One problem is computational difficulty; the other is the possibility of overestimation due to capitalization on chance. (Author/CTM)

Standards relating to sampling methodology are summarized, deviations from these standards in a random sample of 30 research reports are identified, and specific recommendations for improving sampling methods to enhance research applicability for practice are made. A high proportion of the studies examined had at least one major sampling…

Tells how staff members of a college newspaper worked out a procedure for obtaining and interviewing a sample of students that accurately represented the entire student body. (GT)

Three factors are considered that contribute to the perception that the higher education research effort has done a poor job in dealing with problems confronting academe. The first factor is the magnitude of the higher education enterprise and the number of problems and issues inherent in it. The second factor is the level of support for research,…

Addresses the lack of data on procedures used to recruit subjects in marital research by examining the effects of different sampling techniques. In Study One, couples recruited through newspaper advertisements were found to be at greater risk for marital discord. In Study Two, couples who responded to mailed solicitation were found to be less…

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…

Survey data concerning teacher education program graduates were used to demonstrate the advantages of a stratified random sampling approach, with followup, relative to a one-shot mailing to an entire population. Sampling issues involved in such an approach are addressed, particularly with regard to quantifying the effects of nonresponse on the…

Reasons dropouts offer for withdrawal from college and differences between respondents and nonrespondents to a followup questionnaire were studied. During the spring 1980 semester, freshmen and sophomores completed a questionnaire describing their background and college experiences. A total of 156 dropouts (those who did not complete courses…

The literature and typical approaches to reducing attrition among college students are critiqued, and a strategy for the identification of different interventions likely to have positive effects on retention rates of different student subgroups is proposed. It is claimed that a small sample approach to empirical testing of the combinations of…

A survey of speech communication departments and a review of the literature indicate that most speech communication researchers continue to use college students as their primary source of subjects. The problem of sampling is discussed and methods for dealing with generality are offered. (PD)

Until recently, norms of experimental reasoning have lacked systematic theoretical development. Thus, it has been easy for psychologists like Tversky and Kahneman to misclassify certain human reasoning processes as being Pascalian and invalid, rather than as being Baconian and valid. (CP)

Argues that women are unaccounted for in most phenomenographic studies, for several reasons: most research has been conducted in fields and using samples in which women are underrepresented; the traditional disciplines of study are patriarchal; and the "outcome space" is defined in cognitive terms, neglecting the affective dimension…

Presentation of quantitative research on the family often suffers from a tendency to interpret findings on a statistical rather than substantive basis. Advocates the use of data analysis that lends itself to an intuitive understanding of the nature of the findings, the strength of the association, and the import of the result. (JPS)

Electricity conservation programs were implemented in matched pairs of office-classroom-laboratory buildings and dormitories. The methodological problems of predicting consumption levels, interpreting why changes in consumption occurred, and estimating initial waste levels are discussed along with their implications for the conduct of behavioral…

Error profiles for the Fall Enrollment Survey of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) were developed as part of an assessment of the quality of survey data. Three statistics were of particular interest: the count of full-time equivalent students, the breakdown by race/ethnicity, and the count of unclassified students. Attention…