The 11 papers in this volume were presented at the 1996 American Statistical Association (ASA) meeting in Chicago (Illinois), August 4 through 8. This is the fourth collection of ASA papers of particular interest to users of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) survey data published in the "Working Papers" series. The…

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) is a telephone interview survey that has been conducted in the spring of 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1999. The 1999 NHES was a compilation of survey items from previous years that included three interviews, resulting in three data files. The first is the Parent Interview, in which data were collected…

Financing higher education for a growing number of young men and women in the face of steadily rising costs is becoming a crucial problem in the United States. This report is concerned with one major aspects of the problem: namely, what it costs students to attend college and where they get the money for this purpose. Next to the student and his…

A broad range of strategies in sampling, measurement, design, execution, implementation, and analysis are examined. Specific strategies are suggested that tend to be successful in the real world of psychiatric clinical research. (Author)

Examines in 13 articles, three areas of change in family research methodology. Considers major determinants of change in the subject matter of family studies. Addresses the central measurement problem of family studies, i.e., relationships. Presents illustrative examples of the advancement of research technologies in family studies. (RC)

Discussion of scientific journals and the use of electronic tools focuses on a study in New Zealand that investigated the feasibility of CD-ROM instead of printed journals for scientific publishing. Highlights include software choice; prototype publication; sampling method; document delivery; credibility and durability; and future possibilities.…

Use of the bootstrap resampling technique (BRT) is assessed in its application to resampling analysis associated with measurement of payment allocation errors by federally funded Family Assistance Programs. The BRT is applied to a food stamp quality control database in Oregon. This analysis highlights the outlier-sensitivity of the…

The extent to which students with disabilities are represented in national data collection programs was investigated by reviewing nine such programs that are receiving attention in current educational reform initiatives. Results suggest that 40-50% of students with disabilities are excluded from these prominent data collection programs. (SLD)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the important factors influencing residents' satisfaction in residential aged care and to provide a better understanding of their interrelationships. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the required information, including resident satisfaction, resident dependency…

With the increasing globalization of human resources practices, a commensurate increase in demand has occurred for multi-language ("global") personality norms for use in selection and development efforts. The combination of data from multiple translations of a personality assessment into a single norm engenders error from multiple sources. This…

Finding ways to improve the design of large-scale tests is a timely issue. Recent changes in Federal legislation (including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) have placed greater emphasis on accountability via large-scale tests. Students who have previously been exempted from large-scale assessments, including students with disabilities and…

As noted in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) "PISA 2000 Technical Report" (OECD, 2002), the Austrian sample for the PISA 2000 assessment did not adequately cover students enrolled in combined school and work-based vocational programmes as required by the OECD's technical standards for PISA. The…

The study of "zonation", the distribution of plants and animals into distinct spatial areas, is a great way to introduce students to basic ecological concepts. Students can conduct methodical, quantifying surveys of zones in areas as diverse as mudflats, beaches, forests, wetlands, and fields. Students collect data from these areas with field…

How can middle school counselors identify bullies? This study compared two methods of identifying bullies in a sample of 386 middle school students. A peer nomination survey identified many more bullies than did student self-report. Moreover, self-reported and peer nominated bullies differed in their types of bullying behaviors, level of general…

U.S. federal policies do not provide a universal social safety net of economic support for women during pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period but assume that employment and/or marriage will protect families from poverty. Yet even mothers with considerable human and marital capital may experience disruptions in employment, earnings, and…