Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information, to reflect on what has been said, observed, or done, and to consider what their personal responses will be. After at least three seconds of uninterrupted silence, a significant number of positive outcomes occur for students and teachers. Students are more effective in…

This Digest describes four types of errors in mail surveys and summarizes the ways they can be reduced. Any one of these sources of error can make survey results unacceptable. Sampling error is examined through inferential statistics applied to sample survey results. In general, increasing sample size will decrease sampling error when simple…

This digest offers tips on designing questionnaires and on avoiding common design errors. The following useful suggestions are offered: (1) keep the questionnaire brief and concise; (2) get feedback on the initial list of questions developed; (3) locate personal or confidential questions at the end of the questionnaire; (4) put categories in…

Failure to include nonnative English speaking students in a testing program, something that is especially important in a state where a high school graduation test is administered, can cost students the opportunity to practice for the test, as well as the opportunity for diagnosis of educational attainment and feedback about their progress. For…