Despite abundant data and increasing data availability brought by technological advances, there has been very limited education policy studies that have capitalized on big data--characterized by large volume, wide variety, and high velocity. Drawing on the recent progress of using big data in public policy and computational social science…

Non-government actors such as think-tanks are playing an important role in Australian policy work. As governments increasingly outsource policy work previously done by education departments and academics to these new policy actors, more think-tanks have emerged that represent a wide range of political views and ideological positions. This paper…

ED"Facts" is an initiative of the U. S. Department of Education to base education policy on reliable performance data provided by state education agencies. Among its many data items, ED"Facts" houses school-level counts of students disaggregated by state-defined student economic status, typically free and reduced-price lunch…

The question of how information is used by parents in selecting schools is a central issue in school choice debates, where advocates and opponents frequently intermingle theory (often economic), ideological beliefs, and empirical evidence in constructing arguments about the potential of this reform. We employ a nomination strategy to analyze…

Statisticians can help to improve human rights reporting. The statistician's approach to measurement, summary, and interpretation is needed to understand and help reduce human rights violations. Statistical problems in the measurement and analysis of human rights violations include: lack of agreement on the definition; great difficulties in…

Interest in research summarization is highlighted. Applying a case study method to the research on note taking from lectures, this paper shows more evidence in favor of taking notes than had been recognized. Reasons for doubting excessively pessimistic conclusions of research reviews are given. (Author/GK)

An experiment which varied indications about the possibility of psychological risk and deception in consent information provided to subjects prior to participation in Asch's (1952) line-judgment task is presented. The number of erroneous line-judgments (conformity) made by subjects across five consent treatments and a no-consent control group were…

Discusses the need for application of research findings. (RC)

Researchers make little or no use of formal information systems. This is due, not so much to 'information apathy' on their part, as to faults inherent in information services as a whole. A formal information service may not come through at all. It is not capable of reaching behind a request to the real question that motivated it. By not being able…

Managerial style has implications for program evaluators who wish teir work to be utilized in the decision-making process. This article characterizes managerial behavior in general, and draws some inferences as to how utilization would proceed and how it might be increased. (Author/CTM)

In the conduct of field studies, there are three different points at which data may be collected unobtrusively. The first is when there is a "search" for an area of study. The second point in which data may be gathered unobtrusively is when the researcher is attempting to further the analysis. The third point in which data are collected…

The purpose of this review was to examine research designs in studying knowledge utilization. The results are based on 32 studies of knowledge utilization, and the report describes the various types of research designs and their strengths and weaknesses. Survey research methods are appropriate for dealing with either of two aspects of a…

The study of knowledge production and utilization deals with the problems of how to translate theoretical concepts and knowledge into practical solutions to people's problems. Many criticisms have been leveled at aspects of previous information system models, including their linearity, one-way communication paths, overdependence on scientific…

The authors offer some practical guidelines in four areas of rehabilitation research information dissemination: (1) filing and retrieval problems; (2) level and styles of writing, listing, abstracting, summarizing, and reconceptualizing; (3) profiling the average practitioner-consumers; and (4) leveling attitudinal barriers. Filing and retrieval…