An exploratory investigation of police promotional examinations was made in an attempt to improve the testing procedures that were in use. A primary goal of the study was to identify a pool of performances (tasks, behaviors) of police sergeants, lieutenants, and captains that might serve as referrents for job-related test items for promotional…

The purpose of this study was to compare the perceptions of teacher competence within and among three groups of educators as measured by the interview scales of the Instrument for the Observation of Teaching Activities (IOTA). (Auhor)

Although there is a healthy trend toward employment of multivariate statistical methods in the analysis of data from experiments in psychology and education which involve multiple dependent variables, there remains a need to demonstrate the wide variety of data analytic techniques available for post hoc analysis of statistically significant…

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)

The terms evaluation, assessment, and appraisal are often used interchangeably in research on schools and pupils. Guidelines for their use and some of the similarities and differences in their meanings are explicated. The concept of evaluation is narrowed to refer to use of information on pupil behavior. Four separate components of…

Proposes a methodology, an analysis of variance, for assessing statistical differences among jobs using a particular job analysis instrument--the Position Analysis Questionnaire--as the basic measuring device. (Author/RK)

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, the third in the kit, discusses the logic underlying the use of quantitative research designs, including the pretest-posttest design, and supplies step-by-step procedures for setting up and interpreting the…

Possible differences in rater confidence were investigated among raters whose primary role with the ratee was either professorial or administrative or that of an employer. As hypothesized, significant differences were found among the groups and among types of performance rated. (LBH)

For this evaluation of a multicultural education unit, Staged Innovation Design, which allows for experimental group posttest scores to be compared to control-replication group pretest and posttest scores to ascertain instructional effectiveness, was modified by adding a simultaneous pretest for both groups to control for threats to internal…

Presents a series of data sets and answers that can be used to do an inhouse evaluation of common procedures in statistical software programs that are designed for use on microcomputers. Highlights include procedures for t-test, analysis of variance, regression, correlation, and categorical data analysis. (14 references) (LRW)

A questionnaire is designed to allow assessment of a simple additive value function for testing respondent preferences for different types of information used in evaluating police services. Responses are analyzed to determine what types of information different stakeholder groups consider useful. (Author/LMO)

The degree to which the chosen units of analysis are likely to produce spurious findings in staged combinations of multiple linear regression procedures are examined. The effects of grouping variables (e.g., classroom, school, and school district) on Procedures such as Coleman's semipartial regression and Mayeske's commonalities, in light of…

Comparison data on SAT verbal and mathematical were collected on pairs of examinees in three samples for later use in detecting instances of willful copying. Two of the samples were constructed with the knowledge that no examinee could possibly have copied from the answer sheet of any other examinee in the sample. The third sample was taken…

Describes a study that was conducted to examine the utility of "Books for College Libraries, 3rd Ed." (BCL3) as a collection development and evaluation tool for academic libraries. Holdings of sample titles from BCL3 in the OCLC Online Union Catalog are examined, and the in-print status of titles is investigated. (11 references) (LRW)

A total of 450 volunteer subjects from two major U.S. Navy Research and development laboratories participated in a field experiment designed to test methods for increasing individual self-development activities. Experimental subjects engaged in career planning efforts consisting of forecasting goal-setting, action-planning, and group discussion.…