This paper presents best practices for conducting survey research using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Readers will learn the benefits, limitations, and trade-offs of using MTurk as compared to other recruitment services, including SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics. A synthesis of survey design guidelines along with a sample survey are presented to help…

Bullying is one type of violence that threatens a youth's well-being in schools and neighborhoods. The impacts of bullying are felt by individuals, families, schools, and society and may result in youths feeling powerless, intimidated, and humiliated by the aggressive acts of other youth(s). This document is designed as a tool to help…

This technical report and user's guide is designed to provide researchers with an overview of the design and implementation of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), as well as with information on how to access the PISA 2009 data. This information is meant to supplement that presented in Organization for Economic Cooperation…

An examination of methodological referencing patterns for actual physics, engineering, and sociology literature for the year 1983, using a Dunn planned comparison approach, indicates that physics differs from both engineering and sociology, while no difference was found between engineering and sociology. References are given in each sample…

The microcomputer offers social science field researchers a valuable tool for managing qualitative research data. In addition to the flexibility and efficiency of the microcomputer, the logic governing its programming and operation imposes a framework on the research process which necessitates that research decisions and strategies be explicit and…

Setting up a successful interinstitutional data-sharing project involves commonsense guidelines: be clear about what is wanted, take advantage of what already exists, use appropriate technology, staff adequately, recognize institutional differences, and concentrate on achieving insight rather than precision. (Author/MSE)

Describes three basic approaches to needs assessment--problem identification, problem analysis, and problem verification--and assesses them in terms of their potential utility to users in business and educational settings as measured by their estimated time requirement, accuracy, and cost. Needs assessment data collection resources and techniques…

Addressed to institutional researchers, this report from California's Chabot College presents information on National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data sets. Included is a discussion on how these data sets can be used to create peer groups of U.S. colleges, and to produce statistics on major student variables for each of these groups.…

In 1984, a new corpus of spoken Quebecois French (Canada) was added to the existing data. In developing it, half of the native speakers participating in a 1971 study were re-interviewed, providing previously unavailable data on individual language development. The report describes in detail the sociolinguistic methodology used in developing the…

This document consists of four symposium papers each providing a critical examination of a particular data collection technique in vocational education research. Texts of the following presentations are provided: "Mail Survey Research," by Betty Heath-Camp; "The Telephone Interview as a Data Collection Technique," by James P. Key; "The Personal…

An ongoing, multiphased project to measure and reduce book loss due to theft was instituted in the main library at the University of Kentucky. Though book loss was significantly reduced, the issue of whether an electronic security system is more effective than a manual checking procedure remains unresolved. (6 references) (EJS)

Examines the methodology of a comparative study by Tuppen and Deutrom of student performance in Third World countries and challenges its conclusions by providing a rationale for redefining retentivity as the proportion of the original enrollment retained rather than the proportion of the age group enrolled. (MM)

An overview of college guidebooks examines their origins, development, types, impact on both consumers and colleges, and current trends and future prospects. It is argued that publishers will gain credibility by standardizing data collection and reporting formats and by no longer trying to rank colleges on criteria that change annually and fail to…

The Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance (IFG) has designed and implemented a major survey of public and private schools in the six-county San Francisco Bay Area which focuses on organizational dimensions in elementary and secondary schools. Private schools include Catholic parochial and private schools, independent…

As a step in considering the addition of dropout statistics to the Common Core of Data (CCD) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, telephone and personal interviews about the feasibility of implementing a standard national dropout statistics collection were conducted. Interviews were held from May through September of 1990…