This article reports the findings of a study designed to determine how secondary school principals rated their school systems. Since space limitations precluded publishing the entire report, you may wish to contact the authors for additional information. (Editor)

To present a detailed description of what school superintendents actually do, not what they perceive themselves doing or what they ought to do, this project utilized unstructured, nonparticipant observation of six superintendents on the job. Four trained observers recorded the administrators' activities throughout every minute of the workday for…

Inferences made in integrative research reviews are as important to the validity of behavioral science knowledge as are those in primary research. The research review is conceptualized as a scientific inquiry involving five stages paralleling those of primary research. Problem formulation is the stage when variables are defined conceptually and…

Three issues must be addressed when discussing the standards needed to judge the methodological rigor of naturalistic approaches to administrative research. The first issue involves defining naturalistic inquiry. In contrast to the scientific paradigm, naturalistic inquiry emphasizes, first, the inseparability of variables or events from their…

This guide is intended as an aid for historians interested in utilizing the computer as a resource for teaching undergraduate college level courses. Four types of information are listed. Part I lists computer based instructional packages which concetrate on data analysis (in contrast with simulations, games, or tutorials) and which use pre-1950…

This data system was formulated to analyze school finance issues in New Jersey. It is intended for simulation and analysis of the effects of school finance reform. The system has three components. The first is the data base containing such information as district enrollment, property valuation, or financial information. The second is the aid…

Most measurements of racial and ethnic segregation, particularly comparative analyses across cities, have relied on the Index of Dissimilarity ("D"). Recently, however, it has been demonstrated that cities with different racial compositions also have different expected values of "D" under a random distribution of whites and…

Data analysis of a questionnaire completed by 38 public libraries in the United States and Canada who possess "turnkey" automated circulation systems is presented. Results show that libraries are enthusiastic about benefits to staff and patrons. For libraries with increasing circulation, the computer allows more time to handle additional work load…

Two types of statistical analyses of rating scale data are discussed. An example, with its accompanying mathematical calculations for each type, is presented; and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are compared. It is judged that the little-known and seldom-used Kolmogorov-Smirnov one-sample test should be reexamined because of its…

Summarizing the methods currently being employed at the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) for user interaction analysis, this study presents suggestions and provides examples for the use of audit trail data available from most online interactive systems. The sample data used in the analysis are from the OCLC online system used for cataloging,…

The implications of data from a review of ten years of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) indicating that random sampling is rare and that there is increased use of quasi-experimental designs lacking in random assignment are considered. It is suggested that tests of significance could be abandoned or at least placed in a subsidiary…

Results of a statistical investigation relating teacher characteristics to ten dimensions of their self-concept and motivation are reported. The Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory for Teachers (SCAMINT) was used to compare the two sets of data. Specific findings for the characteristics of teacher sex, age, level of instructional duties, and…

In the development of programed materials, usually all responses are analyzed for a small sample of students. The viable alternative is to perform mathematical transformations on response data from a selected portion of a large sample (more than 400 students) to obtain reliable estimates of item difficulty and item discrimination. (LH)

An analysis of survey responses from a sample of aides/orderlies on competency characteristics for their occupation is presented in this document. (Aide/orderly is one of seventeen occupation groups included in this research.) The competencies are reported in five categories: (1) those competencies selected by the respondents from a list of 720…

An analysis of survey responses from a sample of nuclear medical technicians on competency characteristics for their occupation is presented in this document. (Nuclear medical technician is one of seventeen occupation groups included in this research.) The competencies are reported in five categories: (1) those competencies selected by the…