Assessment of college teaching is viewed broadly as the gathering of information for understanding and improving teaching as well as judging its quality. It is seen to play a crucial support role at each stage of instructional development: problem clarification, instructional design/redesign, and field testing and implementation. (MSE)

Reviewed 319 doctoral theses in educational administration completed at the University of Alberta between 1958 and 1990. The proportion of descriptive studies increased whereas the proportion of relational studies declined. The proportion of studies using case study strategies, interviews, and multiple methods of data collection also increased.…

A method is presented for determining the optimal number of conditions to use in measurement designs when resource constraints are imposed. The method is illustrated using a multivariate two-facet design, and extensions to other designs are discussed. (SLD)

Discusses conceptual and methodological issues in quantitative research studies in social work where subjects come from a variety of cultural backgrounds but where ethnicity is not the main variable under study. Addresses the following aspects of multicultural research: problem definition, methodology, data collection procedure, data analysis, and…

A discussion of the use of computerized spreadsheets for recording and analyzing college students' grades looks at a variety of issues of concern in any evaluation situation (data collection and control, allocating grades, checking consistency, analyzing relationships between items of assessment and grades), and illustrate them with examples from…

Provides an overview of adoption statistics and describes data available regarding adoption arrangements and the characteristics of parents who relinquish children, of children who are adopted or in substitute care, and of adults who seek to adopt. Recommends the establishment of a national data collection system for adoption statistics.…

Reports the results of a content analysis of research in library and information science based on articles in international journals. The classification scheme used to classify article topics is explained, the distribution of research articles and professional articles is compared, data collection methods are discussed, and research strategies are…

Ideal measurement of food use in school-aged children possesses validity, reliability, interpretability, and feasibility. The article discusses dietary records and recalls and measures of patterns in food use. Issues to consider when constructing children's food frequency are food list, time intervals, response set, context of questioning, and…

Five papers on outcomes assessment and management in health care services are presented. The papers illustrate the different stages of outcomes assessment, including identification and selection of indicators, monitoring and pooling of data, description of variations and identification of problems, analysis of variations, and feedback and results.…

Boswell Center Psychotropic Medication Efficacy Graphs were developed to monitor the longitudinal effects of psychotropic medication on individuals with mental retardation, with less reliance on anecdotal recollections. Levels of maladaptive and prosocial behaviors, medication side-effects, and psychotropic medication were considered…

A principal gained the cooperation of five teachers (representing science, history, reading, English, and remedial reading) for using diagnostic information to drive instructional practice. After administering the cognitive section of the NASSP Learning Style to students and tabulating results, the principal worked with teachers to personalize…

Suggested institutional guidelines for faculty research on American Indians include researcher behaviors related to obtaining tribal approval of the research proposal, being sensitive to cultural mores and privacy issues, giving fair return to informants, communicating anticipated consequences of research to participants, and allowing tribal…

A unidimensional model for responses to statements that have an unfolding structure was constructed from the cumulative Rasch model for ordered response categories. A joint maximum likelihood estimation procedure was investigated. Analyses of data from a small simulation and a real data set show that the model is readily applicable. (SLD)

Illustrates how a qualitative approach was used to study the complex and poorly defined concept of information resources management. Explains the general approach to data collection, its advantages and limitations, and the process used to analyze the data. Presents results, along with lessons learned through using method. (Author/AEF)

Describes an activity that engages pupils in the whole statistical process from collecting data to interpreting the results. Discusses the importance of these activities in developing knowledge, skills, understanding, and ability in problem solving. (Author/ASK)