The paper is the second of a series of working papers developed by a project which conducted a cooperative study of existing student study team processes in nine California special education local plan areas. The working papers augment the final report by providing detailed descriptions of the methods used and the preliminary findings. This…

Field research gives graduate students a direct experience in appreciating the differences between doing research and reporting it. This paper reports the field experience provided in a doctoral program at the School of Education at Syracuse University. With the support and assistance of faculty consultants, a structured problem approach was used.…

A description is given of a college course in survey research and attitudinal measurement offered by the School of Education at the University of Louisville. The graduate level course focuses on the principles of social research; survey research methods; and data analysis, interpretation, and application. National survey data are used to teach all…

Data holdings of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems as of November 30, 1984, are described. For each set of data, the following items are included: name, originating organization, contact person for originating organization, frequency of issue, time span covered by the data, subject matter and scope of the data,…

This description of a project offering live television transmissions as an addition to the University of Regina's (Saskatchewan, Canada) distance education system includes: (1) an introduction; (2) a description of and rationale for the evaluation model used; (3) a description of the data collection process; (4) a summary of the findings; and (5)…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in its expansion of data reporting, should consider approaches for studying the curricular content of elementary and secondary instruction and student achievement of curricular goals. More specific information is needed about the curricular content of U.S. education. For example, data collected…

This document provides an overview of the needs assessment literature related to continuing professional education and guidelines for designing needs assessment procedures for a given project or professional group. Section 1 reviews the literature. It considers key concepts and definitions, reviews factors that may influence the development of a…

This paper discusses the creation of analytic categories that were applied to behavior in quite different, contrasting settings and that at the same time retained their ecological validity. In Project Follow Through, behavior stream observations were conducted on 20 second-grade children for an entire school day. To study the structure of behavior…

The social role of the personal computer and its implications for familial health were investigated in a study of approximately 100 families with microcomputers in their homes. Data were collected through a written questionnaire and through diskettes programmed to monitor day-to-day computer usage. Analysis emphasized both patterns in family use…

The manual is intended to help administrators evaluate special education programs. Information is organized according to 11 training activities designed for a one day inservice session. Introductory information reviews the purposes of training, and provides suggestions for trainers in planning, conducting, and following up the session. Activities…

The Austin Independent School District's Research and Evaluation Office presents practical information concerning observational research. This paper focuses on five topics: (1) what makes a good observer (setting the ground rules, training observers in details, and practice, i.e., involving the observers in planning and providing rigorous…

This paper describes an ongoing study evaluating families that provide in-home care to elderly relatives wth dementia. Characteristics of the study, which include a focus on progressive senile dementia, use of a clinical approach, longitudinal design, descriptive nature, focus on the dyad of patient and primary caregiver, and use of videotaping…

A code to systematically observe preschool settings in which handicapped children were placed was designed to determine the types of interaction and play behavior that occurs in these settings. The code records the following information: play area the child is in, how many children are in the same area, the play behavior the child is undertaking,…

This paper acknowledges that research on school dropouts presents problems in the definitions and computation of dropout indices. It considers a variety of methods for computing dropout rates, using dropout rates which are real and which were available at the end of the 1986-1987 school year. Fall enrollment, average daily membership, and total…

For the past three years, the Board of Governors has made the development and implementation of the California Community College Management Information System (MIS) a major priority. Following two years of pilot testing with five community college districts, statewide implementation of Phase I of MIS is slated to begin in July/August 1989. Several…