Found estimated overall dropout rate of 31 percent and a transfer rate of 30 percent among Navajo students. Lack of comparable data across schools and districts made determination of the actual dropout rate very difficult. Concludes that the dropout phenomenon is complex, multicausal, and can only be helped with an approach that brings together…

A Colorado elementary school began its Total Quality Management work about a year ago after several staff members participated in an IBM Leadership Training Program addressing applications of Deming's theories. The school's new writing assessment has increased collegiality and cross-grade collaboration. (MLH)

Describes the data collection guidelines developed by the World Health Organization's Global Program on acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The guidelines apply anthropological methods of observation and interviews to the information on AIDS-related beliefs and behavior. (JOW)

Undergraduate consumer affairs students developed research skills by conducting a study of the prices in a market basket of food in neighborhoods of various income levels. (SK)

Sees aging and health care as emerging policy issues in Third World. Discusses rationale for principal features of emerging new international survey design which includes integration of younger and older families; reliance on retrospective data; intensive measurement of economic status, health outcomes, and utilization and intergenerational…

There are many ways to collect information about college teaching. Many are quick, easy, and unintrusive, and are valuable supplements to the standard source of information, student ratings. A matrix of data needs and corresponding sources of course, instructor, and student information helps refine the information gathering process. (MSE)

Reports findings from a study of the confidence expressed by ministry-level decision makers in five developing countries (i.e., Somalia, Botswana, Liberia, Yemen, and Nepal) about the quality of the national-level education data available to them and reasons for the perceived 16-40 percent error rate. (DMM)

Describes focus group application in student affairs assessment and offers suggestions on conducting groups and using results. Concludes that focus groups can overcome limitations of quantitative designs, such as limited scope of response or profiles of "average" persons who do not really exist; be used to help design or supplement quantitative…

A brief overview of the various methodologies used to study second-language acquisition focuses on the particular complexities presented by the interdisciplinary character of the field and its effects on such aspects as theory construction, empirical methodology, epistemological positions, data collection, hypothesis testing, and data…

This sixth in a series of articles describing IBM's Opportunity Management Program addresses the approach and methods used to accomplish a summative evaluation. Four levels of validation of performance and business results are discussed, and nontraditional methods of evaluation are recommended, including the use of data gathered by IBM in levels…

Demonstrated that time sampling is inaccurate for estimating durations or frequencies of behaviors. Also concluded that (1) individual or group differences can change depending on whether time sampling or continuous sampling is used; and (2) error rates are high when bout lengths of behaviors are short or when interval length is long. (BC)

Early nineteenth-century occupational classification originated in political debates of the time and was designed to illustrate the work and social status of groups with political power. The labor of women and slaves was not adequately accounted for, explaining some of the problems in the current occupational structure. (SK)

In 1995, the Broward County (Florida) Public Schools initiated a safe-school program. The first step was to ensure collection of accurate, consistent, and timely data. This article describes the district's revised data-collection and incident-reporting system, and documents the program's effectiveness in improving safety. (MLH)

Presents examples of the effective use of building management technology to avoid reaching diminishing returns. Examples illustrate facility management technology uses for facility surveying, renovations, and master planning. (GR)

Analysis of United Kingdom Labor Force Survey data identified inadequacies and ambiguities that change prevailing interpretations. Policy development could benefit from improvements in collection and interpretation of data on training, as well as from more research on its costs and benefits. (SK)