Describes the several research traditions which combine to form the social indicators movement. All the traditions share concern for measurement, analysis, and reporting of aspects of social conditions to a general audience. Journal available from: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 3937 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…

Considers the use of personal information given by students to teach about understanding and appreciation of data analysis in college sociology courses. Students are directed to describe their personal style by a five step process: simple measurement of personal characteristics, recoding and indexing, quantifying a dimension, discussing recoding…

Describes how local area unemployment statistics are developed by state employment security agencies to provide the Bureau of Labor Statistics with data on the insured unemployed by county of residence. Includes a discussion of the handbook method, a consistent and uniform method of estimating total unemployment for states and areas. (Editor/TA)

Single subject (N=1) research strategies deserve increased emphasis in the training of school psychologists. Single subject methodology has demonstrated credibility in research and in monitoring effects of professional interventions. Presented at the 8th Annual Convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in Kansas City, Kansas,…

Describes the characteristics of a statewide principal evaluation system. Even when an evaluation system is detailed, specific, and statewide, inconsistencies develop because of the special nature of principals' work. The system breaks down in the sampling of performance and outputs, and in the communication of negative feedback. (PS)

This example of online searching, employed as a research method rather than as a tool to gather bibliographic information, used Magazine Index to collect data which were manipulated using geographic codes and compared with the buildings of a 1977 study on geographic bias in television news reporting. (EM)

Project ACTT (Activating Children Through Technology) has adapted hardware (switches, battery operated toys, and microcomputers) and developed software for use with handicapped children (birth to 3). Individual child assessment of abilities, switch determination and placement, positioning, environmental design, choice of equipment, parent…

Examines the reliability and validity of the scores of diverse informants from the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). Also considers the utility of aggregating scores of parental behavior derived from multiple observers. CRPBI items were adapted to obtain mother's, father's, sibling's, and subject's ratings of parental behavior…

Triangulation strategy results in evidence characterized by the following: (1) convergence; (2) inconsistency; and (3) contradiction. In order to render the data sensible, the researcher or evaluator must report data collection procedures, as well as the three levels of information from which explanations of social phenomena are constructed. (BJV)

Discusses ways in which teacher supervision and observation can help teachers to explore and see teaching as a process through such methods as taping and transcribing class activities, grouping tape or transcription excerpts, arriving at a common language to discuss them, and making multiple interpretations about them. (Author/CB)

Describes a methodology which analyzes courses described in university catalogs in order to produce a database used in the compilation of a collection development policy statement. Each step of the analysis is described, and tables are used to track sample data through the entire process. (CLB)

Described is a computer simulation that was used to help general education students enrolled in a large introductory geology course. The purpose of the simulation is to learn to interpret incomplete data. Students design a plan to collect bathymetric data for an area of the ocean. Procedures used by the students and instructor are included.…

Argues that, though ethnography is a powerful methodology, it has rarely been used by educational researchers. Describes the research tradition of ethnography, compares ethnography with more common educational research practices, and discusses advantages of improved commuication for both mathematics education and educational anthrpology. (PK)