This paper briefly reviews the learning outcome aspects of seven recent follow-up studies completed for seven different transfer discipline areas at William Rainey Harper College (Illinois). It notes an increasing interest by the field of institutional research in evaluating how students learn. Faculty in the fields of psychology, English,…

Researchers involved in a case study of 10 racially mixed public high schools and middle schools that have undertaken the challenge of reducing tracking saw themselves as dispassionate observers. In the middle of the study, however, they began to question this view, discovering that their very presence affected the tenor of reform in each school…

This paper explores how youth programs, particularly programs that try to prepare young people for the world of work and higher education, are organized and implemented in the field. It is argued that, in many cases, the needs of program practitioners are overlooked by the research community. The focus is on the field of "second-chance"…

This volume presents an overview of current anthropological thinking on the education of minority students, bringing the perspectives of educational anthropology to bear on understanding minority education and resolving its inequities. At the core of the book are some papers from an invited session of the American Anthropological Association in…

This symposium paper reports on developing biographical qualitative research methods, mixing personal narrative and conceptualization. The section on "Learning To Do" begins with an autobiographical report on a study of an urban classroom during which the author developed his early techniques for qualitative research, including the…

The World Wide Web provides a convenient source of databases and examples of survey resources for those who teach research methods. For example, lottery numbers as sources of data, demographic-based search engines, and surveys and their results can be found on the World Wide Web. These can stimulate discussion and lead to student analyses…

Self-study is defined as participant study of practice, and it has often been questioned as a form of research. Whether self-study can be valid when generalized or whether it merely represents personal reflections was explored in a case study. During a year as a teacher of secondary students, the researcher/participants kept a journal as part of a…

Findings from a survey that examined the vast scope of research training in counseling psychology programs and topical areas that are addressed in dissertation research are presented in this paper. The questionnaire included both open- and closed-ended questions and were completed by 166 recent graduates of doctoral programs in counseling…

The 1994 and 1996 Federal Forecasters Conferences provided forums at which forecasters and those involved in predicting trends from different federal agencies and other organizations could meet to discuss various aspects of forecasting in the United States. The theme of the 1996 conference was "Federal Forecasters Look 10 Years Ahead."…

This report provides an overview of a selection of measurement error studies conducted on National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys. Its intent is not to offer new analyses of program data, but to summarize information from internal memoranda, working papers, and adjudicated reports about errors of measurement that occur during five…

This study identified and classified the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) publication topics and authors since 1973 in order to provide a reference resource for institutional researchers. The study reviewed the following AIR publication collections: "Research in Higher Education"; "New Directions for Institutional…

This manual explains how to construct a questionnaire. It is intended for the novice researcher who has little experience in questionnaire construction. The first seven chapters discuss the following seven stages in questionnaire development: (1) establishing the guiding questions; (2) operationalizing and clarifying the guiding questions; (3)…

The Prince George's County Public School District is a multiculturally diverse district in Maryland serving a heterogeneous population of students, most of whom are black (70.3%) and many of whom qualify for free or reduced-price meals (40%). The school system welcomes the opportunity to participate in research projects, but has acknowledged its…

This study examines one analysis of Somali clause structure and syntactic typology, characterized as a radical departure, and finds in it considerable grammatical insight but also some problems. Another analysis is presented that retains both the advantages of the conventional view of the Somali sentence and the structural insights of the new…

There exists in the counseling and therapy professions the paradox of widespread endorsement of research with little use of, or engagement in, research in actual practice. This situation exists in large part because many counselors and therapists are less knowledgeable of research than they are of clinical practice. This collection of digests,…