Provides an introduction to qualitative research methods. Describes principles of qualitative research and discusses appropriateness of qualitative methods for student affairs research. Explains qualitative methods, including design, data collection and analysis, and reporting of results. Identifies and addresses problems of trustworthiness of…

Discusses the use of employee opinion surveys in libraries to assess the organizational climate. Topics addressed include identifying employee attitudes and levels of satisfaction; administrative commitment; the use of outside consultants; types of questionnaires; the necessity for confidentiality; analyzing the survey data; and feedback to…

Suggests basic elements of spatial education appropriate to geographic information system (GIS) course curricula. Describes the need for integration of GIS education and GIS training. Discusses hardware/software configurations, approaches to the creation of laboratory facilities, and approaches, rationales, and technical considerations in the…

Drummond and Hopper's article in this issue, "Back Channels Revisited," is argued to have decontextualized Jefferson's acknowledgement token phenomenon. The need for careful coding protocols for research on conversational practices is discussed. (eight references) (LB)

Reviewed 65 reports, dated 1986 through 1990, focusing on college student alcohol consumption patterns. Review shows that shortcomings in research design, analysis, and presentation of results make it difficult to draw conclusions regarding the present nature and problem of college student drinking. (Author/NB)

Fifty-six teachers of students with moderate/profound disabilities viewed task analytic data in one of three forms: graphed, ungraphed, or both. The data's form did not produce different teacher judgments of student progress or different program recommendations. Three factors (trend, variability, and frequency of data collection) had significant…

Reviews conceptualization of change as series of accumulating increments and decrements and depiction of change by growth curves as continuous process underlying individual performance. Clarifies problems with use of difference scores in study of change. Contrasts traditional methods with growth curve analysis for purposes of measuring change and…

Uses the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series to trace race differences in African American family structure between 1880 and 1980. Confirms a long-standing high incidence rate of single parenthood and children residing without their parents. Data also show blacks have had a consistently higher percentage of extended households than have whites.…

Describes an activity in which students use actual weather data to construct statistical experiments to determine whether a particular month of the year is colder than in the past. Students work in groups to make generalizations, formulate hypotheses, apply statistical methods to test the hypotheses, and draw conclusions. (MDH)

Describes changes to a traditional study of population in yeast colonies. Changes to the procedures include: (1) only one culture per student team; (2) cultures are inoculated only once; and (3) the same tube is sampled daily. (DDR)

Suggests that testing developmental ordering hypotheses is difficult because rare use of ratio scales prevents direct comparison of measures. Demonstrates that the observed data pattern is constrained by the underlying relationship--although observed data pattern may not reflect the exact relationship, it limits possible relationships. Shows the…

Proposes an approach to the analysis of cataloging rules, in particular, rules for bibliographic description, in terms of orientedness, a concept employed to explore directiveness or inclination of a characteristic toward a given objective or function. Assesses the validity and usefulness of the proposed approach and reviews its problems and…

Argues that the only reason to ask students to plot graphs manually should be to have them learn the skill of plotting graphs manually. For data-analysis purposes, the use of computer-generated graphs has several advantages and few disadvantages over manual plotting. (Author/WRM)

This study reports the prevalence of child sexual abuse in 338 African-American and European-American women and compares circumstances to data collected a decade ago. Thirty-four percent reported at least one incident prior to age 18. Ethnic differences were found relating to prevalence and number of incidents. (CR)

Discusses action research and its implications for library media centers; measurement and study; and steps in the action research process: clarify research need and define research problem, plan research to provide relevant data, collect and organize, analyze and interpret, report to relevant audiences, and integrate the results into library media…