This paper summarizes and highlights some of the critical developments, issues, and trends which impact the work of survey research. The issue of preventing or minimizing nonresponse bias by successfully obtaining cooperation from people being surveyed continues to be of concern to survey research professionals. The most effective response rate…

The sampling errors of maximum likelihood estimates of item-response theory parameters are studied in the case where both people and item parameters are estimated simultaneously. A check on the validity of the standard error formulas is carried out. The effect of varying sample size, test length, and the shape of the ability distribution is…

Practical information is provided, in a question and answer format, for community college officials who are planning to conduct a community needs assessment. A brief discussion of the usefulness of needs assessment surveys to the college planning process is followed by descriptions of eight steps to be followed in planning and conducting a survey:…

Accurate estimation of variance components used in generalizability theory is essential for the theory to be viewed as an efficacious mechanism for studying the reliability and validity of a measurement procedure. This paper explores two alternatives for dealing with the apparent instability of small sample size used in determining the accuracy of…

Presents teaching activities that are intended to be used to teach statistics to students in a high school mathematics program. Includes a worksheet of eight discussion questions on statistics, four activities on sampling bias, two experiments on sampling techniques, and a game known as "capture-recapture." (TW)

This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-93) restricted-use data files and of the public-use institution data file. The NSOPF-93 was the successor to a 1988 study of postsecondary faculty. Information about the purpose of the study, the data collection instruments, the…

The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) tracks the experiences of a cohort of college graduates who received their baccalaureate degrees during the 1992-93 academic year and who were first interviewed as part of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. The experiences of this group in the areas of academic enrollment, degree…

Expresses the importance of scientifically based research in education reform and explains how to judge the validity of educational research. Describes control groups, randomized and matched experiments, statistical educational significance, sample size, and the difference between scientifically based and rigorously evaluated research. (Contains…

This paper reports labour market returns to education in Bangladesh using data from recent nationwide household survey. Returns are estimated separately for rural and urban samples, males, females and private-sector employees. Substantial heterogeneity in returns is observed; for example, estimates are higher for urban (than rural sample) and…

Background: Speaking rate has implications for both clinical practice and an understanding of normal and disordered communication processes. Fundamental information on speaking rate is required by the clinician for the appropriate management of those disorders with disturbances of rate or those in which rate modification strategies are applied.…

Often quantitative data in the social sciences have only ordinal justification. Problems of interpretation can arise when least squares multiple regression (LSMR) is used with ordinal data. Two ordinal alternatives are discussed, dominance-based ordinal multiple regression (DOMR) and proportional odds multiple regression. The Q[superscript 2]…

This manual familiarizes data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the high school transcript component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A second objective is to provide the necessary documentation for using the data files. Chapter 6 and appendix F, in particular, contain…

This handbook provides information to help the policymaker or educator understand the research process in order to study problems and opportunities associated with the education of girls in Africa. In Africa, girls account for only 57% of the school-age population. They are more likely to drop out of school and to score lower on the examinations…

This paper describes an item response theory (IRT) based method of differential item functioning (DIF) detection that involves neither separate calibration nor ability grouping. IRT is used to generate residual scores, scores free of the effects of person or group ability and item difficulty. Analysis of variance is then used to test the group…

This report summarizes the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Study, which examined the impact of Title IIA of JTPA on participants' employment, earnings, and welfare receipt. Between 1987 and 1989, more than 20,000 adults and out-of-school youths who applied for JTPA services in 16 areas across the country were randomly assigned to a…