Bias due to attrition of respondents poses a threat to the internal and external validity of research findings. Discusses methods of detecting attrition bias in longitudinal family research, and presents Heckman's procedure to correct attrition bias. Data from the University of California Longitudinal Study of Generations are used to illustrate…

Focuses on the interpretation of research data of Berthier, Starkstein, Lylyk, and Leiguarda (1990) reporting a case of faster recovery, after selective sodium amytal injection, of the patient's second language than his native language. Paradis (1990) argued that these results do not support Ojemann and Whitaker's (1978) hypothesis. (five…

Responds to Paradis's (1990) argument that these authors misreported the facts presented by Berthier, Starkstein, Lylyk, and Leiguarda (1990) regarding the recovery by a bilingual patient of his second language earlier than his native tongue subsequent to injection of a narcotic drug. The article argues that Paradis is incorrect. (nine references)…

Responds to Rubin and Knox's (1996) article concerning data analysis in single-case evaluations. Refutes the assertion that ambiguous data patterns discourage clinicians from doing single-case evaluations, and questions the assertion that emphasis on single-case designs should be reduced in the social work curriculum. (JPS)

Describes a project initiated at Silverado High School in Las Vegas, where students from Las Vegas and schools across the United States monitor the levels of radon in the atmosphere. Enables students to learn first hand about the collection, analysis, and interpretation of scientific data and to network with other students from the United States…

Examines how interviewers can revise questionnaires to minimize troubles in interviewees' responses and to encourage positive, optimistic responses. Discusses psychometrically valid questions, revising scripted text to use yes-no questions, reformulating unclear questions to evoke positive responses, presenting scripted questions as yes-no…

Considers individual students' progress as they use tools, discuss data distributions, and interact with teachers and their peers. Suggests that data display tools provide a partial context for discussions but do not constrain the students' interpretations or the way they reason about the data. (Author/MM)

Presents results of 2 studies on mentoring teacher educators in literacy education. Models alternative ways of representing and evaluating research data. Articulates how these alternative forms of representing data capture the aesthetics of mentoring graduate students in literacy teacher education. Describes the quantitative survey study,…

Discusses survey results from 269 colleges, including 96 two- year, 85 four-year, and 88 universities about their use of technology in running and operating their facilities. Results show that colleges get high marks for thinking about automating various facility functions, but low marks on implementation. Technology use in security, building…

Students at the middle school level are expected to use appropriate tools and techniques, including mathematics and graphing, to analyze and interpret data and communicate experimental findings. Measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode--see sidebar for definitions) are often used as descriptive statistics when students conduct…

In this article, I outline how, with the appropriate mix of external requirements and internal motivation, structure and capacity, a school can promote and maintain a culture of evaluative practices, specifically data use, for continuous improvement. I draw upon qualitative data conducted in a study of an Edison Project school. The findings from…

This study investigates student conceptualizations of the nature of science (NOS) and how students interpret and evaluate conflicting evidence regarding a socioscientific issue. Eighty-four high school students participated in the study by reading contradictory reports about the status of global warming and responding to questions designed to…

As schools become increasingly multicultural, teachers need special sensitivity to recognize differences and intercultural competences to be able to support the personal and academic growth of diverse students. This paper introduces newly qualified teachers' conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence in a Finnish context. The teachers…

In 2004 the Australian Flexible Learning Framework developed a suite of quantitative and qualitative indicators on the uptake, use and impact of e-learning in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. These indicators were used to design items for a survey to gather quantitative data for benchmarking. A series of four surveys gathered…

Students in small rural schools in British Columbia face barriers to accessing senior science courses. A case study employing questionnaire and interview methods sought the perspectives of principals, teachers, and students in the affected schools on this issue. Interpretive data analysis revealed the following barriers as key factors that affect…