Activities and accomplishments of the Institute for Research and Development in Occupational Education during 1978-1979 are discussed in this annual report, highlights of which include (1) production of a film dealing with sex equity; (2) development of a parallel Spanish version of the Career and Occupational Development test; (3) a second year…

Presentations are on the five topics of functional models of institutional research: (1) and the political scene; (2) at public and private colleges and universities; (3) for improving communications between institutional researchers and data processors; (4) for deriving qualitative decisions from quantitative data; and (5) for special interest…

This document provides highlights of research efforts supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the areas of mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering; astronomical, atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences; science education; research applied to national needs; and scientific, technological, and international affairs for fiscal…

An analysis is presented of the basic instructional productivity formula, PR = TL x CS, where PR is the index of productivity, TL is the index reflecting teaching load, and CS is the class-size index. Objectives of the analysis are to: extend the basic instructional productivity formula to include recognition of different types of instruction;…

On March 31, 1978, over 70 administrators of libraries, library staff members, and network representatives from all types and sizes of libraries in all areas of Wisconsin participated in a workshop to investigate alternative structures for providing interlibrary loan and reference referral services at the state and area levels. These proceedings…

It is asserted that Steven's viewpoint on measurement--that scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio--has a limited usefulness for behavioral scientists and researchers, and that it is necessary to develop an alternative. Some limitations of Steven's theory are discussed: (1) its assumptions about the nature and purpose of measurement; (2)…

A comparison was made between four different scoring procedures for the 45-item Reading Comprehension subtest, Level I, of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, Form S, for a sample of 1,000 third grade students. These students were selected to have been among those who omitted from 3 to 22 of the 45 items. Another representative sample of 1,300…

Under a grant provided by the Indiana State Board of Vocational and Technical Education, the Indiana Vocational Technical College developed and conducted a five-week training program for vocational rehabilitation workshop supervisors. Nineteen persons participated, representing state-wide organizations involved with rehabilitation activities.…

A project was conducted to develop energy instructional units which would fit into each year of a three-year farm business management curriculum. Four curriculum units which focus on fertilizer management in crop production were developed. The first unit was designed to develop farmers' awareness of energy as a vital resource to their businesses…

The purposes of this paper are to provide an explanation of the way in which suppressor variables operate in multiple regression, and to provide illustrations of their effects with actual social science data. Examples are reviewed in which one predictor accounts for more of the variance in the dependent variable when another predictor is included,…

The incidence of rape victimization in 26 American cities was investigated using interviews conducted with representative samples of approximately 10,000 households (22,000 individuals) in each of the cities. Results indicated that: (1) rates of rape and attempted rape were higher for younger women, minorities, women who were never married or…

Uneven access to taxable real property wealth currently produces wide disparities in per pupil expenditures among New York state school districts. The state's operating aid formula does not compensate for the inequities in low wealth districts having an operating expense level of more than $1,500 per pupil. In the last decade several proposals…

The property tax is the single most important revenue source for local governments and school districts in New York State. Its positive attributes are its stability, simplicity, efficiency, predictability, and its contribution to local government. Yet gross inequities are associated with assessment administration of property tax. An analysis of a…

This report evaluates alternative approaches to and measures of equity in state school finance plans. It also evaluates the Federal Expenditure Disparity Measure (FEDM). Following an introduction, Part II describes alternative conceptions of equity in education and identifies three components of these conceptions: groups treated, alternative…

This account of the 93rd meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) presents both the Washington and ARL perspectives on national library planning with emphasis on periodicals, bibliographic control, and libraries and information services. These viewpoints are presented by six speakers on two panels with a discussion following each…