The Bean and Metzner Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition Model appeared to be a good model to address community college student attrition because it takes into account the environmental variables that colleges must consider to enhance persistence. A study was conducted to determine how well the Bean and Metzner Model fit with community…

This book focuses on understanding the epistemological foundation of adult education, the research process, policy issues, and directions for the future. "An Epistemological Overview of the Field" (Garrison) provides an overview of adult education research: the historical development, issues, the scope of the knowledge base, and approaches to…

A case study approach was used to analyze the commercial training markets for further education (FE) colleges in Sheffield, England. The following aspects of training supply and demand in Sheffield were examined: regional employment market (occupational structure and economic outlook); size, value, and segmentation of the training market;…

An analysis of oral and written discourse focuses on the hypothesis that marked structures serve to code discourse boundaries and signal the advent of new discourse units. The hypothesis is examined against three independent sets of data: (1) discourse from a larger study, in which subjects provided oral or written narrative descriptions, in…

Originating in the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), this book examines this major research project, the first study to sample a truly representative cross section of Blacks in America. The contributors discuss the methodological procedures and approaches used in conducting the NSBA and explain how the study was designed with a…

Qualitative approaches in educational research are challenging traditional postivistic, psychometric paradigms by emphasizing: (1) close contact over detachment; (2) multiple techniques in obtaining data; (3) bottom-up inductive frameworks; and (4) phenomenological approaches. Section 1, "Ethnographic Investigations into High Schools," includes…

One part of a study of the difference that services under Title IIA of the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) make in the employment, earnings, and welfare receipt of adults and out-of-school youths served by the program focused on the following: recruiting sites, monitoring the implementation of the research design, and describing and…

The frequency with which students borrow works of literature that can be called eminent or great works from a university library was examined in two studies that are interesting for their methodology and their findings. An operational definition of great or eminent works was developed, and a list of such works was derived from three sources on…

An analysis was made of the methods being used to assess the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990. Although no single assessment plan has been developed, various activities are aimed at studying both the implementation and the impact of the law. Four assessment efforts are described as conducted by the following groups: (1) the Office of…

Designed to help teachers monitor their students' progress in beginning literacy, this book describes some classroom observation tasks which have been used systematically by New Zealand teachers to guide their teaching of young children in formal school programs. The book is designed for: teachers who work individually with children having…

This book contains 21 essays by a diverse group of scholars who examine the current state of family theory and research and look ahead to challenging issues likely to be raised in the future. Part one contains seven essays on the rethinking of conceptual models, including "Bringing the Institution Back In,""Changes of Heart: Family…

The purpose of this monograph is to heighten awareness about action research for both teachers and administrators involved in California middle level reform efforts. This approach to educational research is a means of developing knowledge through collaboration in a process that improves both student learning and professional autonomy. The…

The National Center for Education Statistics conducts surveys which require the coding of the respondent's major field of study. This paper presents a new system for the coding of major field of study. It operates on-line i a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) environment and allows conversational checks to verify coding directly from…

This paper offers reasons for using traditional quantitative research methods and illustrates some of the considerations demanding rigor in a study on gender discrimination in school-administrator salaries. Traditional quantitative methods provide a meaningful language based on numbers and objectivity, and they are less time-consuming and complex…

It is noted that while language proficiency tests are not an ideal method for predicting student performance, they are commonly used as admission criteria. A methodology for comparing college tests of English as a Second Language (ESL) that are used for program admission is offered. The procedure imposes certain constraints on data collection,…