Explores the possibility of expanding the research base in distance education through the use of three well-known and accepted qualitative methodologies used by anthropology and sociology: ethnography, case study, and grounded theory. Each methodology's characteristics and main strengths are described. (MBR)

Discusses Ward's article on the potential usefulness of social science researchers for government agencies' analysis of public opinion. Emphasizes the need to gather representative data and suggests that researchers can take a proactive role by using a theory of social behavior such as Bronfenbrenner's. (CB)

Notes that major changes have occurred in the factors investigated and the data collection procedures employed in teacher effectiveness research and that the generalizability of significant findings continues to be limited by methodological and experimental design problems. (FL)

Existing data on illegal immigration in the U.S. is inadequate. The limited availability of macrodata on the size of the annual flows and of the accumulated stock of individuals as well as of microdata on their influence on selected labor markets has been used to forestall policy reform efforts. (Author/RDN)

The Delphi technique is a method for the systematic solicitation and aggregation of informed judgments from a group of experts on specific questions or issues. This paper is a discussion of the technique: its uses, misuses, and future. (Author)

Attempts to describe criteria for the evaluation of religious truth. (Author/RK)

After a frustrating year working through a traditional evaluation of a special program funded for the purpose of assisting school desegregation by the Office of Education, the authors wrote this article to describe the mistakes they had made, their small triumphs, and their subsequent evaluation of their own procedures and attitudes. (Editor/RK)

The primary concern of this study was to assess the levels of commitment that women expressed toward being artists in order that other variables--such as the women's family history data, their personality characteristics, and the types of schools they attended--could be examined across the levels of commitment. (Author/RK)

Discussion of gathering data from community sources and techniques for collecting data to identify educational needs for university continuing education programs. (ABM)

This Backgrounder Brief is an executive summary of "Data-Driven Decision Making: Vision to Know and Do," a component of CoSN's Essential Leadership Skills Series. Collecting student achievement data is nothing new in schools. But for all of the data gathered, many schools remain information poor. Educators are challenged to understand…

This guide discusses combining qualitative and quantitative research methods in theses and dissertations. It covers a wide array of methods, the strengths and limitations of each, and how they can be effectively interwoven into various research designs. The first chapter is "The Qualitative and the Quantitative." Part 1, "A…

This manual identifies the major changes for 2002-2003 in EDExpress, the electronic data exchange aspect of the Title IV student financial aid application process. It describes the major changes in the global EDExpress module and the App Express module and discusses locations for other resources describing changes in EDExpress. The Global Module…

This manual is a guide to handling data related to the federal student financial aid program through the electronic data exchange (EDE) system EDExpress. The overview defines how data is exchanged and identifies key players in the exchange of data. The overall process for sending and receiving data is outlined, along with the overall processing…

This paper concerns the construction of a bibliography of written materials about Aboriginal science and technology drawn from books, theses, dissertations, scientific and non-scientific journals, conference papers and newspapers etc: in fact, articles about the science and technology that relate in some way to Aborigines, from whatever source,…

This methodology report provides technical information about the development, design, and conduct of the third grade data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). Detailed information on the development of the instruments, sample design, data collection methods, data preparation and editing,…