Likert-type item is the most popular response format for collecting data in social, educational, and psychological studies through scales or questionnaires. However, there is no consensus on whether parametric or non-parametric tests should be preferred when analyzing Likert-type data. This study examined the statistical power of parametric and…

Most quantitative analyses in workforce education are affected by missing data. Traditional approaches to remedy missing data problems often result in reduced statistical power and biased parameter estimates due to systematic differences between missing and observed values. This article examines the treatment of missing data in pertinent…

The growth in the availability of longitudinal data--data collected over time on the same individuals--as part of program evaluations has opened up exciting possibilities for evaluators to ask more nuanced questions about how individuals' outcomes change over time. However, in order to leverage longitudinal data to glean these important insights,…

In answering the question "What is the next trend in usage statistics in libraries?" an eclectic group of respondents has presented an assortment of possibilities, suggestions, complaints and, of course, questions of their own. Undoubtedly, usage statistics collection, interpretation, and application are areas of growth and increasing complexity…

Almost nobody, it seems, disputes the importance of effective teachers--including teachers themselves. However, principals actually do none of the things they do when they value something as highly as most people say they value good teachers. By looking at scores on year-end standardized tests by teachers, principals think they have a pretty good…

There has been a continued interest in the numbers and characteristics of those who make up the vocational education and training (VET) sector's own workforce. To address this, the Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) commissioned the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) to undertake three…

In the past three years, Board of Governors' (BOG) staff, working in cooperation with university representatives, have continued to improve the data collection and reporting capabilities for the State University System. Simultaneously, Board staff have worked to lessen the reporting burden on the universities by reducing the number of data…

This paper presents information on re-developing an outcome evaluation for a state-funded program providing service coordination utilizing wraparound to youth with severe emotional disturbance (SED) and their families. Originally funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kentucky IMPACT program has existed statewide since 1990. Changing…

Presents a method for determining the number of days on which questions must be counted in order to achieve a given precision and confidence in reference statistics. (Author/PF)

A formula for determining sample size, which originally appeared in 1960, has lacked a table for easy reference. This article supplies a graph of the function and a table of values which permits easy determination of the size of sample needed to be representative of a given population. (DG)

While current information on the dynamics of a library is essential, some concern has been expressed about the efficiency of the statistical collecting procedures as well as the usefulness of the statistical data collected at the Purdue University Libraries. Task priorities based on objectives and the significant cost factor of staff time, dictate…

Presents in full the questionnaire sent to member institutions of the American Society for Engineering Education to collect data on engineering education and research for the school year 1975-76. (MLH)

A State-wide followup, personal interview survey was made of 1,396 Virginia vocational agriculture graduates, from the classes of 1968 through 1972 and representing 34 percent of the total, to ascertain the percentage who made use of 144 content items usually taught in vocational agriculture, and whether used items were used on- or off-the-job.…

This monograph discusses a study of the quality of school life of students in comprehensive high schools in Quebec. Two methods were used to compile data: a survey of 30 secondary schools involving 2,000 students from 15 large and 15 small settings, and an ethnographic study of one large and one small school. Student attitudes toward school both…

In January of 1987, a planning conference was convened by the Center for Education Statistics as part of an effort to study the feasibility of various approaches to the nationwide assessment of children's readiness for instruction in kindergarten and first grade. This report provides, in an appendix, the texts of the four commissioned papers…