This essay derives from roundtable discussions of teams from seven research universities involved in a Knight Collaborative Engagement on Academic Indicators and Information Systems to Guide Resource Decisions. While colleges and universities are built on the premise that good data, well tested by an often adversarial process of discovery and…

This document aims to support graduate students who are in the process of preparing graduate theses or dissertations, and is organized according to the planning, research, and writing phases. The function of theses and dissertations is to provide students with experience in conducting and presenting research and to add to the body of knowledge in…

In January 1998, seven school boards amalgamated to form the Toronto District School Board, a board responsible for 600 schools. To deal with the complexities of the new entity, researchers have been using geographical information systems (GIS). GIS are computer-based tools for mapping. They store information as a collection of thematic layers or…

This study compared three spelling interventions to increase the spelling accuracy of elementary students with learning disabilities. Thirty-six randomly selected third, fourth, and fifth grade students with learning disabilities were assigned to three interventions: (1) the traditional spelling procedure; (2) a multisensory procedure without…

Study undertaken to determine the particular areas in science which are of common interest to intermediate grade boys and girls from three different environmental settings. (Authors)

Authors outline a two-quarter, graduate sociology course in fieldwork that they teach at the University of California, Davis. The course addresses the tasks of data collection, focusing gathered data scientifically, data analysis, and dealing with consequences of the research. (GC)

Educational attainment provides some indication of the extent to which a person will be "trainable" for professional purposes, with the result that preference is given to the more education. Unemployment rate trends among young people in France and Italy are analyzed and "under-utilisation" is described. (MLW)

The various costs of Type I and Type II errors of inference from data are discussed. Six methods for minimizing each error type are presented, which may be employed even after data collection for Type I and which minimizes Type II errors by a study design and analytical means combination. (Author/CM)

Empirical results from two studies--a simulation study and an experimental one--indicated that, in achievement data of the problem-solving type where a specific subject matter area is being tested, the greater the variety of the algorithms used, the higher the dimensionality of the test data. (Author/PN)

Analyzes problems in the use of cohort data as illustrated by cohort data on drinking alcoholic beverages taken from American national surveys conducted during the late 1950s, late 1960s, and late 1970s. Researchers are cautioned that all available "side information" should be considered before statistical cohort models are tested. (Author/RC)

The impact of an academic progress policy implemented at Cleveland State University is reviewed and evaluated with a focus on: the methodology used in identifying students affected by the academic progress policy; student characteristics; possible misuse of Title IV funds; and benefits and future of the policy. (MLW)

The origins of institutional research and its association with a planning function are reviewed. The role of values, politics, and social pressures in regard to the planning function are examined. Planning is likely to be more directed to attaining administrative and faculty aspirations than to meeting educational and social needs. (Author/MLW)