Provides descriptions of Physics Olympics events in which physics students collect acceleration data while riding on amusement park rides. (MKR)

The essence of Scientomatics is precise measurement. Yet the measurements made in Scientometric research are steeped in ambiguity. This article explores the nature of ambiguity in measurement, probes for mechanisms that allow regularities to be discovered in an environment in which ambiguity is pronounced, and describes Lotka's law (often used to…

Reviews research on the quality of data from the various components of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to identify gaps in knowledge and establish priorities for future research. Also provides information about the survey design and data collection procedures. This information should help users determine how much confidence to place in…

Discusses the limitations of current databases documenting the prevalence and effects of child exposure to domestic violence and describes a model for the collection of reliable and valid prevalence data, the Spousal Assault Replication Program, which uses data collected by the police and university researchers. (SLD)

Provides a detailed description of diverse data collection tools based on the World Wide Web and enumerates their advantages, disadvantages, and logistical challenges. Web-based data collection can offer cost-effective, flexible, and timely solutions to many evaluation needs. (Author/SLD)

Describes a process for reviewing and improving data collection quality. The methodology includes a thorough business practice review, an analysis of existing data quality, cleansing of existing data, and implementation of business practice changes aimed at improving the quality of data captured by each institution. (EV)

Compared face-to-face interviews with self-administered questionnaires as methods of data collection in a study of smoking attitudes and behavior conducted with 601 young Latina and African American women. Results show neither mode to provide superior results and indicate that cost effectiveness and convenience may be greater for the…

The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method's introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in…

Eureka is similar to the Big6(super TM) research skills by Michael Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz, as both methods simplify the complex process of critical information gathering into six user-friendly steps. The six research steps to Eureka are presented.

Preparing one's team for success on the basketball court involves a combination of strategies. One of the most effective but often overlooked strategies is a scouting report. A complete and thorough scouting report will have information about an opponent that helps prepare oneself and the team players for competition. Several areas need to be…

This article describes how job analysis, a method commonly used in personnel research and organizational psychology, provides a systematic method for documenting program staffing and service delivery that can improve evaluators' knowledge about program operations. Job analysis data can be used to increase evaluators' insight into how staffs…

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is one of a few national surveys that regularly collects data identifying the American population of persons with hearing loss or deafness. Estimates from the SIPP indicate that fewer than 1 in 20 Americans are currently deaf or hard of hearing. In round numbers, nearly 10,000,000 persons are…

Efforts to gather data of various sorts--demographics, language-learning history, contact with native speakers, use of the language in the field--as they relate to participants in SLA research studies are inherent to understanding more about language acquisition and use. Scholars frequently develop questionnaires of their own, which are rarely…

Thirty-six participants performed bilateral and unilateral isometric elbow flexion trials at what they perceived to be 100, 75, 50, and 25% of maximal effort. Absolute bilateral deficits ranged from -16% at 25% effort to -10% at 100% effort. The deficit included a component independent of consciousness and a component inversely related to…

Many researchers have been inquiring into focus groups as a qualitative data collection method (Barbour & Kitzinger 1999; Krueger 1998; Morgan, 1998), but only a few have been able to analyze the different levels of understanding in focus groups, which we focus on in this article. The guiding research question is how do focus groups offer deeper…