This special issue's editors invited discussion of three broad questions. Slightly rephrased, they are: How well do self-report data represent theoretical constructs? How should analyses of data be conditioned by properties of self report data? In what ways do interpretations of self-report data shape interpretations of a study's findings? To…

As pressure builds to assess students, teachers, and schools, educational practitioners and policy makers are increasingly looking toward student perception surveys as a promising means to collect high-quality, useful data. For instance, the widely cited Measures of Effective Teaching study lists student perception surveys as one of the three key…

Describes the partnership between the public and private sectors in developing and marketing the ERIC database in CD-ROM format. Particular emphasis is given to the marketing research and protocols of partnership that were developed. (Author/CLB)

Suggests that recent social changes and trends make it imperative to include demographics of all kinds in research on child development. Proposes guidelines to help child development researchers procure demographic information from their study population. Provides specific questions that may help researchers devise demographic indicators, and…

Comments on the ideas presented by Entwisle and Astone in this issue. Suggests that to produce sound measurements of children's socioeconomic background requires a substantial investment in coding, data collection, and management. Nevertheless, a standard set of racial-ethnic and socioeconomic variables, no matter how well measured, cannot serve…

Six articles discuss the 1987 Economic Censuses: a historical review by Bohme; Worden on the value of economic censuses; Wikoff and Powell-Hill on planning the questionnaire; Blum, Bowman, and Sullivan on changing data needs; Zeisset on the data's availability to users; and Schlueter, Ray, and Hartz on international economic statistics. (EM)

Describes a study that investigated the opinions of distance educators and practitioners in Australia regarding the availability of research information, areas in which research efforts should be concentrated, and the order of priority to be given to research areas in distance education. (LRW)

Examines Blumenschein's "Description of Various Libraries in Europe" as an early example of library research methodology; discusses his methods of data collection; describes his use of a questionnaire; and suggests the necessity of further studies of the development of research in library and information science. (Contains 10…

Describes a survey of academic librarians that investigated issues relating to CD-ROM indexes, including print index cancellations; cost versus other factors in cancellations; database vendors' charging structure; CD-ROM durability; student preference for CD-ROM over print; and effective use without librarian assistance. (22 references) (LRW)

Describes a study that used precourse and postcourse questionnaires to identify computer anxiety in a heterogeneous, voluntary population enrolled in a week-long introductory microcomputing course open to all ages as a community program. The relationships between computer anxiety and gender, age, and exposure to computers are discussed. (7…

The authors argue that self-report measures and transcriptions of conversations are ineffective means of gathering data about self-disclosure. Influenced by Kenneth Burke and Hugh Duncan, they illustrate--with a discussion of Shakespeare's character of Richard III--the advantages of using soliloquies as examples of self-disclosure. (PD)

Discusses the design of effective questionnaires based on the concept of a hierarchical classification of Levels of Information: global (Level I), general concept (Level II), and specific (Level III). By tying question types to the information desired, the entire questionnaire can be improved. (JJD)

A self-assessment which allows the reader to measure his/her leadership style, the Leader Adaptability and Style Inventory (LASI) consists of hypothetical situations and multiple alternative actions from which to choose. Four basic leader behavior styles are listed and explained. (CT)

Discusses methodological issues in cross-cultural studies of diverse communities, including language problems, data collection and analysis, sample size, and dissemination of findings. A study of the information-seeking behavior of ethnolinguistic gatekeepers in several communities in California is described. Suggestions are given for public…

In Portugal, the word "literacy" acquired public importance in October 1995, in the first national literacy assessment report. In the last few years, "reading habits" and not "literacy" became a privileged research object, and it is the amount and kind of reading that is being measured, with the results taken as…