Estimates the unauthorized U.S. labor force and explores the methodology for estimating hard-to-detect populations. Findings from a sample of 3,169 businesses suggest that a large proportion of the unauthorized labor force uses fraudulent documents without the knowledge of their employer. (GLR)

This study evaluated the impact of a pilot training package designed to teach six mothers observation and recording skills regarding their children's behaviors. Preliminary data, gathered in an analogue setting, provide modest support for the package's effectiveness, based on improvements in levels of agreement with the professional's data…

Describes the experiences of Cabrillo College (California) in constructing a personal computer-based student tracking system. Addresses data collection and such obstacles as access to the mainframe, limited/erroneous/inconsistent data, lack of information on within-semester persistence, and understated graduation rates. Reviews benefits. (DMM)

Discusses guidelines adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that pertain to privacy protection and the transborder flows of personal data. Discussion covers principles of fair information practice on the national and international levels, approaches to implementing the guidelines, and common public and private…

School district administrators can decide whether food service components are operating cost effectively. Explains ways to determine costs of energy, personnel, and supplies and equipment. Two tables provide cost-responsibility checklists for school food services and contracted operations. (MLF)

The Colorado Individual Performance Profile for Hearing-Impaired Students is presented as a tool for providing objective criteria for determining appropriate levels of educational services. The profile rates each student's audiological acuity, communication, English language skills, social-emotional development, life skills, cognition, and other…

This paper discusses the role of transition in school reform and methodology for developing a Florida database on transition-related programs. It describes procedures for ensuring the validity and reliability of database information sources. Findings from the data collection process, concerning common program terminology and school district size…

Describes tracking tools used by designers and users to evaluate the efficacy of hypermedia systems. Highlights include human-computer interaction research; tracking tools and user-centered design; and three examples from the Interactive Multimedia Group at Cornell University that illustrate uses of various tracking tools. (27 references) (LRW)

Reviews the ongoing efforts to profile the nation's elementary and secondary schools. The efforts will be incomplete unless new approaches address the diversity in the rural component of the public school universe. Discusses definitional, conceptual, methodological, and policy-application issues related to the task of constructing a federal…

Presents two experiments in which students examine the effects of touching and shaking on plant growth in common bush beans. (MDH)

Data from 6,472 South Carolina residents aged over 55 years support the reliability of S. Katz's Activities of Daily Living scale when data are collected by self-report telephone interview. Results indicate that telephone interview methods are a fast, inexpensive, and safe way to collect data for research and policy formation. (SLD)

Seven articles discuss research by and for practitioners. The topics include demystification of research for practitioners, experiences with helping teacher researchers, an application of a collaborative action research model, one health practitioner's experience, creating a dance research database, basic data analysis for nonresearchers, and why…

Discussion of search behavior in electronic environments focuses on the development of GRIP (Graphic Representor of Interaction Patterns), a graphing tool based on HyperCard that produces graphic representations of search patterns. Search state spaces are explained, and forms of data available from electronic searches are described. (34…

The first years of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) pilot project to collect benchmark data on college costs and service levels are discussed, focusing on lessons learned, needs identified, current use of the results, and the project's place in the association's long-term research plan. (MSE)

Replenishing item pools for on-line ability testing requires innovative and efficient data collection. A method is proposed to collect test item calibration data in an on-line testing environment sequentially using locally D-optimum designs, thereby achieving high Fisher information for the item parameters. (SLD)