This study presents a design for a biennial survey which would provide a nation-wide, in-depth sampling of supply and demand for educational research, development, diffusion, and evaluation personnel. An extensive preliminary study and analysis led to recommendations for a more modest initial survey focusing on the demand for three priority…

This paper considers estimation of parameters for a model currently being used to study the Illinois Interlibrary Loan Network (ILLINET) and presents a method for determining how much data should be collected and how it should be aggregated. Four classes of model parameters discussed: demands, probabilities of success, processing times, and…

The inadequacy of the use of the linguist's introspective judgments of meaning and grammaticality as a basis for language studies in syntax and semantics is described, as is the need for improved methods. The evaluation of alternative methodologies by replication experiments is explored. (Author/RM)

This paper discusses three randomized response techniques (the dichotomized question, the unrelated question, and the single question/random answer), the simple probability theory that makes the techniques work, and some questions about the practical application of these techniques by the educator. (Editor)

Difficulties often encountered in conducting surveys in educational technology are described, and some guidelines are suggested for the design and implementation of a survey instrument. (RAO)

Use of the photograph as a technical resource for recording and maintaining data for formative evaluation is discussed. Some advantages and limitations of its use in the classroom are outlined, and types of data appropriate to the medium are suggested. (RAO)

Pupil record keeping is an integral part of the pupil-teacher-administrator enterprise. Assuredly it is as important as maintaining curriculum relevancy or personnel staffing. The article briefly reviews the current law and outlines the steps needed to establish better pupil record keeping. (Author/NQ)

Gives a status report on the in-school visits made by British educational television specialists to determine the needs of the schools they serve. (JY)

Multiple matrix sampling (MMS) as a data collection strategy was examined, and rates of response from 307 public school principals in Virginia were compared when subgroups of items were administered versus an entire instrument. MMS was demonstrated as a viable and reasonable procedure when the mail questionnaire consists of a large number of pages…

Evaluated methods for selecting respondents who would respond accurately to items on a job-analysis questionnaire. One method involved obtaining from employees measures that assessed background, performance, and organizational information. A second method involved collecting job-analysis data from all potential job-analysis respondents and…

Outlines the recordkeeping system at Great Valley School in Pennsylvania that helps students become more responsible. (MD)

Discusses data acquisition systems for biologists, considering: (1) input; (2) output; (3) controllers; (4) software for data acquisition; and (5) programing languages. Also discusses several biochemical databases, including those storing data on protein sequences and on chemical structures in two-dimensional form (together with biological testing…

Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a new spectroscopic technique that is often omitted from undergraduate curricula because of lack of instructional materials. Therefore, information is provided to introduce students to the technique of data collection and transformation into the frequency domain. (JN)

The maximum incorporation of computer coding into an instrument is recommended to reduce errors in coding information from questionnaires. Specific suggestions for guiding the precoding process for response options, numeric identifiers, and assignment of card columns are proposed for mainframe computer data entry. (BS)