The components of existing district instructional information systems are identified and illustrated by examples from field studies and descriptions of work with two districts in defining their instructional information systems and assigning costs. Instructional information systems are loosely organized methods of providing past and present…

Hints on conducting surveys appropriate for university use are outlined, and sample checklists and forms are provided. The following research elements concerning generic surveys are covered: sequences of events for surveys conducted by mail (15 weeks) and telephone (11 weeks); algorithms for estimating materials costs and quantities; a catalog of…

This publication documents the revised Alaska Finance Foundation Simulation Program, a computer finance simulation package for the Alaska School District Foundation Formula. The introduction briefly describes the program, which was written in Fortran for a Honeywell '66' computer located at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and allows…

This study updates and adds to data presented in a March 1986 study on the dropout problem in Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools. The current study has the following four major parts: (1) updates to student loss data for the entire 1985-86 school year; (2) demographic studies of dropouts for that period: analyses by gender, race, grade,…

This document describes the data collection and analysis design used by the Adult Literacy Information and Evaluation System (ALIES), which is the management information system for New York City's citywide adult education program expansion effort begun in 1984. Chapter 1 describes the system's background. Chapter 2 explains five issues that…

The importance of theory in qualitative work is discussed through an examination of the search for theory that arose in relation to a case study of educational change in an American school district. Theory is defined as an analytical, interpretive framework to help the researcher make sense of what is going on in the social setting. Certain…

Procedures and findings of a recent introductory psychology textbook selection effort at 4-year liberal arts undergraduate institution are presented. The following sequential steps were taken: (1) identification of introductory texts for consideration; (2) design of an evaluation form for reviewing targeted books; and (3) collection and analysis…

This manual will familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the base-year teacher component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. A corollary objective is to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data files. The manual provides a wide range of information on topics related…

The process of focus-finding in qualitative research is ongoing and dynamic, involves researcher choices and decisions (rather than pure discovery), and is a process of social construction in which the researcher interacts with the research setting. Focus-finding is discussed in the context of a qualitative research study of the integration of…

Data from the Stanford Test of Academic Skills Level I, administered to 10,910 tenth graders in Hawaii in Fall, 1985, are analyzed. The purposes of this report are to provide information on the effectiveness of the mathematics program in the high school, including the identification of deficiency areas and recommendations for improving…

The School Crime and Misbehavior Project, conducted under the auspices of the National Alliance for Safe schools and the National Institute of Justice, was aimed at providing school districts with a system to reduce crime and the fear of crime in the schools. The Duval County (Florida) Public Schools implemented the 2-year program as a pilot…

The efficiency and appropriateness of the cassette tape as a data collection medium was considered in this survey. A 19-item questionnaire was mailed to 117 agricultural teacher educators who had served at foreign locations. Most of the questions solicited qualitative data about their experiences, problems, and accomplishments. Respondents were…

This report suggests feasible alternatives to the present methods of calculating benefits and costs of the joint federal-state vocational rehabilitation program. "Summary and Guide to Reading This Report" (Monroe Berkowitz) appears first. Part I, Background, Theory and Models, includes "The Cost Benefit Tradition in Vocational…

This paper summarizes and highlights some of the critical developments, issues, and trends which impact the work of survey research. The issue of preventing or minimizing nonresponse bias by successfully obtaining cooperation from people being surveyed continues to be of concern to survey research professionals. The most effective response rate…

Methods that have been employed in McGill University's (Montreal, Quebec) program of research into the nature of learning are described. The methods illustrate four phases of inquiry: conceptualization or model-building; data gathering techniques; data representation; and data analysis. For the university's learning task project, the development…