The principal uses of statistics in library planning may be illustrated by examples from the state of Illinois. State law specifies that the Illinois State Library compile and publish statistics on libraries. State agencies also play an important and expanding role in this effort. The state library now compiles statistics on all types of…

A project was designed to develop and test a library of cassette audiotapes for improving the technical skills of educational researchers. Fourteen outstanding researchers from diverse fields were identified, and a short instructional tape was prepared by each. Subjects of the tapes included instructional objectives for intellectual skills,…

A study tested a resampling methodology (bootstrap simulation) by examining the effects of class size and student motivation on students' ratings of teaching effectiveness. Results suggest that evaluations based on student ratings should look at more than class averages, and that class size and student motivation affect overall ratings. Examples…

Provides a short BASIC program, RANVAR, which generates random variates for various theoretical probability distributions. The seven variates include: uniform, exponential, normal, binomial, Poisson, Pascal, and triangular. (MVL)

Maintains that few statistical representations are as tenuous as public opinion. Maintains that social studies students need to be taught to analyze statistical data carefully. Presents and discusses four guidelines for students reviewing statistical information. (CFR)

A study of job satisfaction at a college registrar's office investigated overall job satisfaction, physical working environment, motivational culture, and worker needs. Findings included significant differences in satisfaction between registration and admissions units. Recommendations for improved sampling, choice of variables, and research design…

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.…

The National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students provides ongoing information regarding the transition of youth with disabilities from secondary school to early adulthood. The sample for the study, which began with a 1987 survey (Wave 1), involved more than 8,000 youth from the national population of secondary…

The National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students provides ongoing information to the special education community regarding the transition of youth with disabilities from secondary school to early adulthood. The sample for the study, which began with a 1987 survey (Wave 1), involves more than 8,000 youth from the…

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics collects data from all sections of postsecondary education. For less-than-two-year institutions, the IPEDS collects data on fall enrollment, completions (earned awards and certificates), etc., from all public institutions in that category and…

Effect sizes have been increasingly emphasized in research as more researchers have recognized that: (1) all parametric analyses (t-tests, analyses of variance, etc.) are correlational; (2) effect sizes have played an important role in meta-analytic work; and (3) statistical significance testing is limited in its capacity to inform scientific…

Any systematic approach to the assessment of students' ability implies the use of a model. The more explicit the model is, the more its users know about what they are doing and what the consequences are. The Rasch model is a strong model where measurement is a bonus of the model itself. It is based on four ideas: (1) separation of observable…

Research on assessing the cultural fairness of individual test items is reviewed, with emphasis on Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model. As defined in this review, differential item characteristics are exhibited when examinees from one group have a lower probability of answering correctly than do examinees of equal ability from another group.…

This report presents 1980 census data on the geographic distribution of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The 1980 census was the first one to identify the total Asian and Pacific Islander population and its subgroups. Information on the total Asian and Pacific Islander population is shown for the United States, regions,…

Four different procedures were used for estimating the proportion of persons who would be classified consistently as either passing both of two parallel tests or failing both. These four methods were applied at each of four different mastery level scores for each of three different length tests. Data were based on 50 replications of each procedure…