A regional workshop on "The Study of Secondary Education in Asia and the Pacific" was attended by 18 participants from Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Western Samoa. The major objective of the…

The technique of multivariate analysis is particularly suited to educational needs assessment research because it allows for the summarization of data across any number of learners or components of educational need to produce a single numerical index of need for each skill examined. In the needs assessment process, educational or training need is…

A basic framework for undertaking a study of elementary curricula in Pacific and Asian countries is presented. The material, which emerged from a regional workshop, is divided into two sections. A chart in section 1 summarizes major features of elementary school curricula in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand,…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss ways in which developmental psychology suffers from the lack of an appropriate technology of measurement and statistical analysis. The paper begins by noting that developmental psychology is the study of change; that individuals develop through a succession of "stages" which are separated by…

Issues pertaining to the validity of student ratings of teacher effectiveness, research on "educational seduction," and implications of the research for the evaluation and improvement of teaching are reviewed. Criteria that have been used to validate student ratings include student achievement, faculty ratings, self-ratings, research productivity,…

This presentation is an informal discussion of a questionnaire context effect which led to an erroneous conclusion in analysis of data from the Monitoring the Future project; an annual survey of high school seniors that has occurred since 1975, and that focuses heavily on their drug use and attitudes about drugs. In 1980, the researchers reported…

Investigated were effects of maternal work status and parity on specific outcomes in maternal psychology and physiology and infant physiology. In addition, the study design and the usefulness of instruments were evaluated, and the feasibility of subject recruitment and retention was assessed. Subjects were 20 women between 18 and 35 years of age…

This hearing, which is the first of a series of hearings on the 1990 decennial census, focuses on automation activities, pretest preparations, and proposed residency rules. Gene L. Dodaro, associate director of the General Accounting Office, calls on the committee to use special purpose tests to adequately evaluate the following: (1) potential of…

Social desirability responding and effort justification were each studied for their effect on response shift as seen in retrospective pretest-posttest responses. The first study used a bogus pipeline induction (half the subjects were told their self-reporting could later be validated) before the self-report pretest. After experimental or control…

The development of the research design for studying curriculum in the "A Study of Schooling" research project involved four problem areas. Defining and conceptualizing curriculum and how it works in different educational settings was a difficult, unwieldy task. Operationalizing the conceptual framework for studying curriculum so that…

This paper is concerned with the identification and testing of salient variables which show potential for explaining client use of evaluation information. A single-page interview instrument was devised which aggregated the factors and factor categories collected following an extensive review of the literature. Data were collected from a…

Discussed in this paper is a preliminary analysis of findings from data gathered during the first phase of a research project exploring the processes whereby the nature of the mother's occupation affects her family life, especially (1) her partnership in decisions about housework, child care and education and (2) the negotiation of the allocation…

As a beginning step in research on the number, kinds, and characteristics of craftspersons ("crafts-artists") in the United States, a study was made of crafts organizations and their memberships. The survey was conducted to gather information that would permit designing a cost-effective and representative sample survey of individual crafts-artists…

Instructional and program relevance of measures of student performance and use of standardized achievement tests, as measures of the quality of a student's educational experiences, are discussed. This focus is consonant with current emphasis on linking testing and instruction and on systemic efforts at program and instructional improvement.…

The results of six major projects are discussed including a comprehensive mathematical and statistical analysis of the problems caused by errors of measurement in linear models for assessing change. In a general matrix representation of the problem, several new analytic results are proved concerning the parameters which affect bias in…