Serial Evaluation Activities (SEAs) are series' of focused evaluational studies, each dealing with a well-defined "component unit" within a complex project. Strategies for enhancing timeliness in SEAs include a comprehensive conceptual framework, a permanent institutional setting, a prearranged sample plan, utilization of item banks, and…

This article suggests that the best place to have sought a social studies teaching position during the past few years has been rural America, more social studies teachers subscribe to professional journals than to sports/leisure magazines, and four out of five social studies teachers have traveled outside of the United States at least once. (DB)

Two models of political mobilization are examined--the developmental model (stressing class-based dynamics) and the reactive ethnicity model (stressing the importance of ethnic ties in addition to class-based dynamics). Results show ethnic ties to be important but suggest that a better understanding of the sociological context of economic…

Discusses the importance of interaction among participants in conferences. Data on participant interaction must be used to evaluate conferences. Describes one graphic technique for collecting and analyzing this data. (JOW)

Orthogonal target analysis, a technique employed in confirmatory factor analysis, is investigated via a simulation study. The results indicate that the technique will recover the correct underlying population pattern except under very unfavorable data conditions and that a close fit to a binary target is not necessarily forced. (Author/JKS)

Provides statistical summaries of database development and growth for 1979, based on the "Database of Databases" file at the University of Illinois Information Retrieval Research Laboratory. Bibliographic, bibliographic-related, and natural language databases are analyzed in four subject categories: scientific/technical, humanities,…

This paper presents an empirical analysis of similarities and differences between two statistics, G and Phi, which treat genuinely dichotomous data. These results can aid researchers in selecting between these two statistics and in evaluating results from the use of one v the other. (Author)

It has been shown that the degree of restriction of range taken into account in testing the hypothesis that rho equals zero, entails risks of incorrect inferences. It is argued that an alternative is to disregard the restriction of range and to use the common t-statistics proposed by regression theory. (Author/JKS)

Eight programs which perform iterative partitioning cluster analysis were analyzed in terms of versatility of options, accuracy, and cost. It was not possible to recommend any one program because of the variability in programs and the lack of knowledge about iterative partitioning methods. (Author/MH)

Reports on the time, ease, and cost of obtaining permission to use photocopied journal articles for library reserve use. Findings from correspondence with 20 journals indicated that photocopying permission is usually easy to obtain and free. Results are discussed in reference to teaching, the professional implications of the accessibility of…

Describes the use of triangulation in a study by the author, and argues that triangulation heightens qualitative methods to their deserved prominence while demonstrating that quantitative methods can and should be used in a complementary fashion. (Author/IRT)

Data on admission characteristics and performance in library school were collected for students entering the A.M.L.S. program at the University of Michigan. Success measures--completion of degree, G.P.A., and amount of time required to complete degree--showed little relation to admission variables in determining success. (Author/MBR)

Describes an activity on data management and statistics in which students were asked to think of a topic and collect information on it to analyze and represent in graphs. (ASK)

This revision of the structural equation modeling (SEM) package developed by J. L. Arbuckle is a commercial product that can compete with other SEM software. The revision contains new documentation, improvements in the way the program saves files, and new drawing tools. It is a substantial improvement over earlier versions. (SLD)

Describes concept maps as a tool to help nursing students organize and analyze information in multiple formats. Illustrates uses by undergraduate and graduate students. (Contains 40 references.) (SK)