A study was made to ascertain how large a sample is needed to make media effectiveness decisions which are generalizable to the total educable mentally handicapped (EMH) population. The method employed in the study involved pretesting and posttesting a sample of 70 primary and intermediate EMH children on the content of a filmstrip. Statistical…

This manual describes a comprehensive system of procedures or a model constructed for the purpose of improving occupational student follow-up in California community colleges. The manual deals with such pragmatic research considerations as conceptualization of research design, sampling, questionnaire content, suggestions for data processing, and…

The discovery of disproportionate minority enrollments in special education classes has been a subject of considerable concern to federal, state, and local education officials alike for the past decade. Because the existence of disproportions is frequently thought to result from discriminatory placement practices on the part of local school…

Longitudinal measures of change are the most important kinds of estimates being produced from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS). Several topics are presented in this report, most of which build on previous variance components analyses. The major areas covered are effects of stratification and clustering,…

The concept under investigation was the reliability of estimates of mean scores of groups under various assumptions of multiple-matrix sampling when reliabilities are computed according to procedures based on generalizability theory. Four different cases were compared with respect to the generalizability coefficients depending upon whether pupils…

The purpose of this study was to empirically determine the effects of quantified violations of the underlying assumptions of parametric statistical tests commonly used in educational research, namely the correlation coefficient (r) and the t test. The effects of heterogeneity of variance, nonnormality, and nonlinear transformations of scales were…

Though item bias statistics are widely recommended for use in test development and analysis, problems arise in their interpretation. This research evaluates logistic test models and computer simulation methods for providing a frame of reference for interpreting item bias statistics. Specifically, the intent was to produce simulated sampling…

Considering curriculum to be at the heart of American education, an effort to determine the trends in and nature of English instruction in higher education is based on a nationwide survey of graduation requirements of 254 colleges and universities for: (1) the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), (2) the Bachelor of Science (B.S.), and (3) the Bachelor of…

This paper outlines procedures used to derive variables from data in the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty; these variables were then used to create measures not expressly included as items in that survey. The derived variables were used to examine faculty satisfaction in two contexts: first, the complexity of satisfaction, and second, the…

The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 obtained data for 23,451 students, of whom 16,683 completed the base-year questionnaire; 21,350 completed the first follow-up; and 20,872 completed the second follow-up. This report describes the methodology for minimizing bias in the data which might be caused by nonresponse to such…

A method for drawing inferences from complex samples is based on Rubin's approach to missing data in survey research. Standard procedures for drawing such inferences do not apply when the variables of interest are not observed directly, but must be inferred from secondary random variables which depend on the variables of interest stochastically.…

The sampling of teachers for nationwide surveys offers a challenging endeavor in obtaining a representative and adequate sample to truly represent opinions of the teachers. Ten national surveys of public school teachers conducted between 1980 and 1985 are presented with respect to their sampling design and procedures. Concepts and theoretical…

This report provides the statistical tools necessary to measure the extent of error that exists in organizational record data and group survey data. It is felt that traditional methods of measuring error are inappropriate or incomplete when applied to organizational groups, especially in studies of organizational change when the same variables are…

Guidelines for basic sampling and weighting procedures for Massachusetts' Management and Information System for Occupational Education (MISOE) are discussed, illustrating solutions relevant for systems development. Disproportionate, stratified random sampling within and across MISOE subsystems will be carried out, with a hierarchical…

This paper examines how various equating methods are affected by: (1) sampling error; (2) sample characteristics; and (3) characteristics of anchor test items. It reviews empirical studies that investigated the invariance of equating transformations, and it discusses empirical and simulation studies that focus on how the properties of anchor tests…