This paper examines the challenges of developing research resources for leading Vietnamese universities. The first part of the paper presents the background to the study, including literature review on the challenges to research resources development, and describes the research questions and research methods. The next part provides empirical…

This Topical Paper presents the viewpoints of several practitioners in the field of institutional research. It's oriented toward providing the initiate to the profession with guidelines to successfully implement a practice. Specific topics covered are: (1) organization and administration of institutional research; (2) building the foundations of…

Describes a procedure that communication departments, advisors, and graduate students can utilize to help students cope with the task and social pressures that accompany working on a dissertation. Suggests that being and having a dissertation partner supplements the advisor's role by providing task support and social support. (KEH)

The authors define action or "on the job" research as a type of applied research undertaken by practitioners in order to solve practical problems and improve operations in the educational or institutional setting. Advantages and disadvantages of using action research are presented and procedures for conducting it outlined. Two tables list…

Presents an edited selection of points from an address concerning the present range of the NFER'S activities and other suggestions and comments from the forum's delegates. (Author/RK)

Institutional research (IR) in community/junior colleges in past years has been limited to gathering data for external agencies, concentrating on raw demographic data and student flow studies. IR should be directed toward providing data for administrative decisions and for successful maintenance of college operations. In spite of the heavy demands…

A structured approach to a 1980 accreditation self-study conducted at the University of San Francisco in preparation for a reaccreditation visit of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges is described. Assumptions and principles that governed the design of the self-study, steps in the study, and recommendations for future self-studies are…

Evaluation management requires a system for measuring, improving, and accounting for quality. The Institute for Program Evaluation in the United States General Accounting Office is developing such a system. (Author)

Schools are often reluctant to be watched or studied, especially when their interests do not coincide with those of researchers. The development of good site relations can improve the chances of successful data gathering in such circumstances. In addition to acting with courtesy and respect, research teams can organize their site relations…

This work has been done as part of the effort to plan the National Institute of Education (NIE). The report, one of a series, describes four different management systems used by the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Air Force in managing programmatic research and…

This work has been done as part of the effort to plan the National Institute of Education (NIE). The report, one of a series, describes four different methods used by three Federal agencies--the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research--in managing fundamental research. Fundamental research…

An assessment of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) reveals that small colleges can benefit from the consistency of standardized responses in creating individual planning data systems. HEGIS has a long enough history to have stabilized its several instruments. However, if one is looking to create student or personnel specific…

A "meta-assessment" was done of 13 pilot projects on student outcomes assessment in a variety of disciplines at 11 campuses in the California State University (CSU) system. These projects had developed both quantitative and qualitative strategies for collecting data on student learning outcomes. The meta-assessment was designed to…

The retrospective case history is a little-used, but very valuable tool in organizational theory research. It is particularly useful in illuminating variables in an organization's development which, in controlled experimentation, would require prohibitively long periods of time to materialize. Additionally, the technique is useful for generating a…