Describes a recurring error in standard analyses of educational performance, the "politician's error," that results from using percentage point differences as though they were percentages. This simple oversight results in the misinterpretation of trends over time, with implications for both policy and research. (SLD)

Assessed the impact of the Office of Management and Budget's revised standards for collecting race and ethnicity data on state health departments, highlighting the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The revised standards appear to affect state health departments, adding complexity to data collection and analysis, but producing a more…

Describes how fisheries research and management data (available on a website) have been incorporated into an Introductory Statistics course. In addition to the motivation gained from seeing the practical relevance of the course, some students have participated in the data collection and analysis for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. (MM)

Provides details on the instrument development, sample design, data collection, and data analysis procedures for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) national and state assessments. Includes information necessary to show adherence to testing standards of professional organizations. (SLD)

Discusses how to develop an effective assessment process for learning communities, including initial considerations, the value of student involvement, questions guiding the study, data management, and considerations for future studies. (EV)

Examines assumptions underlying the employment of group means in communication research. Suggests a sample mean cannot be assumed to be a "good" statistic when the response vector represents different individuals' outcomes versus different outcomes of an individual. Notes implications for communication research. (SR)

Two school districts in Washington State are seeing fundamental shifts in the learning process by using technology as a tool to support data-centric instruction. An effective student-assessment strategy includes comprehensive information about student progress, analysis of assessment information so specific instructional strategies can be…

Part of a series exploring how mathematics is used in the workplace. Software developers and statisticians record data of hockey games and players using statistics accessible to middle school students. (MM)

Presents activities to supplement the usual diagnostic procedures that middle school math teachers employ at the beginning of the school year to ascertain the math skill levels of their new students. Includes activities related to problem solving, data analysis, estimation, and fractions. (ASK)

Describes a method for analyzing learning that takes place through dialogue, which requires voice analysis and attention to the connection between speaker and speech and between speech parts and whole. Presents three stages of analysis: limiting the object of discussion, analyzing utterances, and identifying individual self-realization. (SK)

Presents analysis, graphs, and tables on trends in enrollment of foreign students at U.S. higher education institutions, noting a 2 percent increase last year. Identifies institutions with the largest number of foreign students, top countries of student origin, student characteristics, and number of foreign students by state. Notes the need for a…

Reports on a quantitative categorical analysis of metadata elements in the Dublin Core, VRA (Visual Resource Association) Core, REACH (Record Export for Art and Cultural Heritage), and EAD (Encoded Archival Description) metadata schemas, all of which can be used for organizing and describing images. Introduces a new schema comparison methodology…

Aspects of Data Fusion (DF) for information retrieval are explored. Based on a geometrical model of DF, it is shown that in the ideal case, performance of DF for a pair of information retrieval schemes may be approximated by a quadratic polynomial. Compares counter-intuitive cases of DF with cases that behave according to the geometric model. (AEF)

Describes a preliminary research project that applies Personal Construct Theory to user perceptions of photographs. While some problems associated with Repertory Grids for subject content analysis are identified, findings indicate they provide a useful method for collecting unbiased data about what users see in visual images and for comparing user…

A classification and taxonomy are used to analyze responses from systems analysts in real-world situations. Systems analysts were given a questionnaire in attempt to: (1) determine whether requirements descriptor terms are created and used in real world situations so that they might classify domain processes and objects; (2) if terms are used, try…