This study reports findings from a survey of U.S. and Canadian medical libraries belonging to the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors (AAHSLD). Conducted in the spring of 1990 and funded by AAHSLD, the survey had the two primary purposes of assessing the use of the AAHSLD "Annual Statistics" in providing data for decision…

A Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey conducted in 1986 investigated the collection and use of management statistics in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries, and SPEC Kit #134 (May 1987) summarized the kinds of statistics collected and the reasons given by the 91 respondents for collecting them. This more…

A survey of college sophomores (N=671) at Georgetown University (District of Columbia) was conducted to measure the extent of their participation in intellectual pursuits and other complementary or competing activities. Principal components analysis was used to identify questions which measured underlying tendencies, and weighted indexes were…

No issue in schools and communities today commands the concern and urgency of the U.S. public as much as the dangers of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among youth. This guide therefore provides descriptive information on the variety of surveys of student alcohol and other drug use currently available, and delineates the issues involved in…

There are increasing numbers of commercially available computer graphics packages, both in terms of hardware and software, that can be utilized by instructors, practitioners, and students of education. With the proliferation of low-cost graphic terminals, time-sharing capabilities, and recent advances in mini- and microcomputers, computer graphics…

Recommendations are made for data processing procedures for the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Common Core of Data survey program. Data are anticipated from about 16,000 local education agencies and 85,000 schools in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 7 territories. These recommendations concern editing and verification…

Graphical methods for displaying data, as well as available computer software and hardware, are reviewed. The authors have emphasized the types of graphs which are most relevant to the needs of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and its readers. The following types of graphs are described: tabulations, stem-and-leaf displays,…

This publication is designed to increase the skills and knowledge of practicing human resource staff, private sector decision makers, and university students preparing for careers in the human resources field in the use of labor market and occupational information for policymaking and planning. Chapter 1 reviews human resource issues, concepts and…

In order to examine the possible effects of violation of assumptions using parametric procedures, this study is an exploratory investigation into the use of parametric versus nonparametric procedures using a multiple case study design. The case study investigation guidelines outlined by Yin served as the methodology. The following univariate…

Shortly after the local jurisdictions responsible for administering the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) completed their transition year and entered into their first full year of operation, the National Alliance of Business undertook two major data collection projects. The 593 service delivery areas (SDAs) and a sample of private industry…

When gathering and presenting educational statistics, five principles should be considered. (1) The data must be accurate, valid, and complete. Limitations, weaknesses, margins of error, and levels of confidence should be clearly stated. (2) The data must include comparable information, sought in comparable ways, in comparable forms, from…

This paper proposes a fundamentally new national data system for elementary and secondary education, differing in structure and content from present education data-collection activities of the federal government, the states, and local education agencies. This report was contracted by the U.S. Department of Education's Center for Statistics as a…

This report provides users of data from the Second International Mathematics Study with a summary of the survey procedures used by participating countries. The introductory chapter includes definitions, cross-sectional and longitudinal components, and recommended sampling procedures. Chapter 2 presents national population definitions and sampling…

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…

An integrated student information system (ISIS) at Trinity University (Texas) is described with attention to how data are entered and how data are extracted for purposes of institutional research. The structure of the original ISIS files, the extract files, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) files is examined. An outline is…