The 2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06), conducted for the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), collected information about the education and employment experiences of students in the two years following their first enrollment in postsecondary education. The primary…

These four evaluation updates cover the second phase of the apprenticeship training materials clearinghouse project, which is being conducted at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. The first update evaluates project activities related to field-testing the clearinghouse services, analyzing the field test results, and developing mailing lists…

This paper reports the results of two semesters of experience using computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to teach topics in program evaluation to undergraduate and graduate psychology students at California State University, Long Beach. (The topics addressed are models of evaluation, evaluability assessment, needs assessment, experimental and…

This chapter presents Hutchinson's Metamethodology, which is a methodology for building methodologies. The methodology is composed of a set of rules and procedures that, when followed and applied to any problem area, will result in a systematic set of procedures for dealing with that problem area. The following major processes of the methodology…

The purpose of this monograph is twofold: (1) to describe the advantages and disadvantages of mail questionnaires as survey research instruments, and (2) to provide guidelines for constructing and utilizing mail questionnaires with a view to maximizing response rates and minimizing response biases. Construction of an effective mail questionnaire…

This report on the development of the Charleston County School District (South Carolina) U.S. History Area Examination outlines: (1) the preliminary planning activities to initiate the development of the test; (2) the development of test blueprints and test specifications; (3) the review of specifications for clarity, completeness, accuracy, and…

This discussion of the modules in an experimental computer-aided system for officer career information and planning system (OCIPS) includes the reasons for its development, a description of the seven modules, and the findings of a preliminary test of four of the modules for feasibility and credibility. Initially developed in response to a need…

A field test was conducted to research the effects of feedback and goal-setting techniques on increasing productivity. Subjects were regular employees of two autonomous clerical-type units in a credit card and payment processing center of a Southwestern oil company. The study desiqn had three phases--baseline period and two experimental conditions…

This final report of the Marketable Preschool Education Program (MPEP) discusses (1) a formative evaluation field test of Aids to Early Learning (AEL) materials and (2) the editing, revision and placement (with publishers) of the Home Visitor Training Package. Learning activities files for home and classroom use as well as several parent…

Over 2,900 managers were studied to test their ability to use intuition. The intuition portion of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was the test instrument. Results indicate that ability to use intuition does vary by management level, by level of government service, by sex, by occupational speciality, and to some degree by ethnic background.…

Reviews published works of a team of teachers at Blackpool and Fylde College involved in research on curriculum dissemination in further and higher education, including a survey about senders and receivers of curriculum information. Progress in a study concerned with field-testing a model for improvement of curriculum dissemination is discussed.…

Characteristics of new information technologies have implications for their evaluation. The instability of most technologies, and their novelty for most users, calls into question the value of experimental summative studies. Their interactive character challenges the traditional formative paradigm. Case studies and field experiments can help to…

If being a competent small group problem solver is difficult, it is even more difficult to impart those competencies to others. Unlike athletic coaches who are near their players during the real game, teachers of small group communication are not typically present for on-the-spot coaching when their students are doing their problem solving. That…

A new instrument was designed by S. Hord (1996) to assess globally the maturity of a school's professional staff as a learning community. The Appalachia Educational Laboratory agreed to field test this instrument to determine its reliability and validity and to draw conclusions about its use in educational improvement. The instrument consisted of…

The Continuous School Improvement Questionnaire (CSIQ) is a comprehensive inventory measuring educators' perceptions of factors that affect success with school improvement. A pilot test of the CSIQ was conducted in Spring 2000, one purpose of which was to reduce the length of the CSIQ. The instrument was reduced from 147 to 72 items. The pilot…