Superintendent of Antigo Unified School District, Antigo, Wisconsin, explains the use of school-level and community-level data to build support for bond and budget referenda. Describes the benefits of data-driven decision-making. (PKP)

An outcomes-based assessment instrument was devised to screen patients for learning problems that would impede patient education in cardiac rehabilitation. Criteria for seven barriers were established: hearing, language, cultural, religious, vision, cognitive, emotional). Points of data collection and a rationale for collection were identified.…

According to some participating school administrators, the process of conforming to the standardized dropout reporting system required by a national pilot project to track dropouts has been time-consuming and expensive. California experienced difficulty with adding junior high statistics. Florida exerted negligible effort, using an already…

Describes how salary data are collected for "The Municipal Year Book," and presents 10 tables compiled from the 1988 yearbook which provide salary data on library directors in cities of various size populations (from more than 1,000,000 to less than 2,500). Data are broken down by geographic region, city type, and form of government. (MES)

The superiority of multiwave designs over two-wave designs in the measurement of individual growth and change is explored by examining the increase in reliability afforded by collecting additional waves of data. Results are discussed in terms of the impact on longitudinal studies of individual change. (SLD)

This article describes a system based on the Epson HX-20 used for real time (rather than time-sample) recording of behavior observation data, which allows the researcher additional options in analysis. Examples of the programs developed, types of research questions asked, and data analyses conducted are provided. (Author/PB)

Describes the Community Concerns Report method for identifying local strengths, problems, and ideas for improving conditions. Presents an alternative to needs assessment and community survey techniques. (JOW)

Describes data analysis activities for grades three to four and five to six based on popular television commercials. Includes reproducible student worksheets. (MKR)

Describes a school project to choose a mascot in which students learned about sampling and polls while collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. (MKR)

Continuing education has a variety of economic impacts on the institution, campus community, and the local economy. Administrators can document their impact by recording direct contributions, amending databases, making valid estimates, collecting data from other departments/units, and reporting the data formally and informally to strengthen their…

Four traits of voluntary organizations (group size, age composition, sex composition, and educational composition) were measured with three different methods: reports from a probability sample of members, reports from a group official, and direct survey of members at an organizational meeting. In general, the three methods of gathering data…

Examines consistency of results and variables that may confound validity in child sexual abuse cases. Concludes that the ways in which information on the incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse has been collected, analyzed, and reported have been flawed to the extent that few reliable conclusions can be made. Includes suggestions for…

Presents a method for the collection and analysis of collateral data about research subjects (i.e., measurements of events in subjects' lives that may affect outcome measures and/or lead to attrition). A six-step procedure evaluates bias resulting from subject attrition from a study using data from lost and retained subjects. (SLD)

Methods for recording information derived from focus groups are described as follows: (1) transcribe the entire discussion from a tape; (2) expand reporter's notes by using a tape; and (3) work from reporter's notes only. Three approaches are also suggested for synthesizing the discussion into an accurate text. (SLD)

This poem, with stanzas in limerick form, refers humorously to the many threats to validity posed by problems in research design, including problems of sample selection, data collection, and data analysis. (SLD)