This report is the result of a nationwide survey conducted in March 2008 of student life officers and campus safety directors to assess the impact of the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech on campus safety and security policy and practice. Discussion areas include: (1) Student Privacy vs. Need-to-Know; (2) Prevention, Mitigation and Recovery;…

Concerns about effective use of school instructional time have been evident for many years. The more stringent demands of the newer accountability mechanisms have obligated educators to renew efforts to optimize the teaching and learning process. This study addressed the nature and extent of classroom instructional time erosion by external…

Results are presented from a formal evaluation of The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Park's Watershed Education (WE) curriculum developed for students in grades 6-12. The primary research objective was to measure the impact the training and subsequent use of the WE curriculum had on teachers' behavior, confidence, and self-efficacy in teaching about…

Introduction: The aim of this study is to gather knowledge about how different groups of Icelanders take advantage of information about health and lifestyle in their everyday life. Method: A random sample of 1,000 people was used in the study and data was gathered as a postal survey. Response rate was 50.8%. Analysis: K-means cluster analysis was…

The study examined how response rate to a mailed questionnaire was influenced by the socioeconomic status (SES) of respondents (high, middle, or low); amount of payment of a monetary incentive (none, $1, or $2); and time of payment (prepaid or promised on return of the completed questionnaire). Subjects were 125 adults in Cache County, Utah at…

Person fit statistics are generated when item response theory is used to construct measures. While person fit statistics are well grounded in theory, their utility in aggregate reporting of survey data has not been demonstrated. This study evaluated effects on reliability and validity of including and excluding misfitting person response patterns,…

A mail survey of commercial television stations nationwide was conducted to determine if stations as a whole are accepting program length commercials (whose airing was deregulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1984). Sales managers at 482 of 769 commercial television stations responded to the questionnaire. Results indicated…

Reviews of 227 comparative studies and 50 descriptive studies covering the time periods 1931-1999 and 1975-1999 respectively, revealed little change in response rates over time for postal mail surveys. Significant differences were found in comparative studies' response rates based on the academic area represented by the journal in which studies…

This Digest describes four types of errors in mail surveys and summarizes the ways they can be reduced. Any one of these sources of error can make survey results unacceptable. Sampling error is examined through inferential statistics applied to sample survey results. In general, increasing sample size will decrease sampling error when simple…

This paper explores political engagement in an increasingly difficult and troubled world by focusing on how U.S. college students participate in the largest simulation of the United Nations (UN) organization in the United States. The purpose of the paper is to explore what is done in the National Model UN (NMUN) program, its impact on the lives…

Evaluates results from surveying further education college students and the process of their secondary schooling. Postal survey responses from randomly sampled college students (n=109) (Birmingham, England) provide the empirical base. Suggests that South Asian respondents have managed to develop mixed educational identities, encompassing elements…

Business education leaders (n=128) received e-mail surveys; 34 returned them via e-mail, 13 by postal mail, 12 were blank and unusable; another group of 128 received mailed surveys with 73 returned. E-mail response took an average of 12.5 days, postal response 24.2 days. E-mail respondents completed 20.9 of 35 questions, the postal group 19.4 of…

Corporations in the Chicago area (n=608) replied to a mail survey to assess the number that had developed no-smoking policies and program contents. Implications of the findings that company size had an effect on most outcome measures are discussed. (SLD)

Results and implications of offering a national sample of 2,451 primary care physicians the option to complete a questionnaire by mail or phone are discussed. Overall cooperation of 62.7% was achieved, with 55% using telephone interviews. Differences across physician specialties are discussed. (SLD)

Surveyed county superintendents, Cooperative Extension county directors, and district superintendents to determine their views on agricultural literacy education. Respondents favored addressing the topic in the middle grades (4-9), through science and social studies. Critical topics identified included toxins in food and the environment, water…