This paper summarizes and highlights some of the critical developments, issues, and trends which impact the work of survey research. The issue of preventing or minimizing nonresponse bias by successfully obtaining cooperation from people being surveyed continues to be of concern to survey research professionals. The most effective response rate…

This report presents preliminary descriptive data from a national survey of U.S. elementary schools, conducted in 1985, which focused on the schools' instructional uses of computers, including efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Specific topic areas covered include: (1) what hardware is in different types of schools; (2) which teachers use the…

Methods that have been employed in McGill University's (Montreal, Quebec) program of research into the nature of learning are described. The methods illustrate four phases of inquiry: conceptualization or model-building; data gathering techniques; data representation; and data analysis. For the university's learning task project, the development…

Public schools in the big cities and urban areas will become proportionally more minority and poor in the 1980's and 1990's. The traditional measures used to collect data on minority population have proved to be inaccurate. The following items are needed and will be of value to people working in urban public schools: (1) data which distinguish…

Ways in which the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) might reorient its activities to assist educational policy makers in making informed decisions are discussed. The first section discusses public school education as an investment. The outcomes of education should be followed as students enter the work force, at the local and federal…

This paper applies questions of coverage, quality and linkages to the current collection of national statistics on education at the preprimary, elementary/secondary, and higher education levels. The main questions raised at the preprimary level pertain to availability of programs, standards, and family-school interaction. At the…

This paper sketches seven activities that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) should pay attention to over the next few years as it attempts to provide accurate and complete data on the elementary and secondary education system of the United States. The activities are: (1) act aggressively to meet the major problems of data…

This paper addresses specific and general issues regarding data needs and considerations that might improve and better facilitate the collection, use, and interpretation of educational data at the elementary and secondary levels. Specific issues discussed are: (1) preschooling and early education, with emphasis on the nature of preschool…

Education and employment and training program planners were surveyed to determine how they planned for emerging occupations. Planners identified several formal and informal means used to collect information to evaluate economic, industrial, and occupational trends. Information collection was conducted in five categories: publications, advisory…

The teaching profession's present notion of the ability of teachers to contribute to theory development in language education needs reexamination. University researchers can best foster this ability by encouraging and assisting teachers to become engaged in classroom research. On the basis of both published evidence and field data, it can be…

A pilot study was conducted to: examine the beliefs of Institutional Research (IR) managers and senior administrators concerning the function, purpose and priorities of IR; determine if beliefs have been translated into practice; ascertain the extent of congruence between perceptions and beliefs held at each level of management; and examine…

The needs of the teacher who seeks successful practical action are different from the needs of the scientist seeking truth. Distinctions made in action science bring out this difference. Action science emphasizes an integration of personal knowledge and social discourse along with objective data in cycles of planning, acting, and fact-finding…

This guide is designed to assist managers of training and development or continuing education in developing a resource file of faculty at their own institution who have the potential to perform various training and development functions. Addressed in the individual sections of the guide are the following steps involved in creating such a file:…

This book provides a catalog of observer systems that can be used to analyze interactive and environmental events that occur in physical education and athletic settings. These systems maximize opportunities for collecting data from many perspectives using different techniques for data sources to explain or modify instructional phenomena. The…

This resource guide outlines procedures for efficiently and effectively planning and implementing transition programming for at-risk students. Based on a review and synthesis of needs assessment systems in transition programs, a flow chart is presented showing step-by-step procedures recommended for local transition needs assessments. Steps in the…