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)

Highlights the old but important debate about the difference between statistical significance and the practical or educational value of research findings. Argues for proper reporting of quantitative research using meta-analysis methods developed in the 1970s. Contains 53 references. (DDR)

In a study of questioning formats, children and adults answered spelling questions in an open-ended condition or one of two close-ended conditions where options were likely or unlikely. Participants presented with unlikely-response options generated their own responses more often than participants presented with likely-response options. Children…

Introduces the "Current Issues" section on validity concerns associated with student ratings. Articles address issues of conceptual structure, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and consequential validity regarding interpretation and use of ratings data. (MMU)

Junior nursing students participated as research subjects in a faculty study, collected data for a student project on health attitudes, and analyzed both studies' findings. Thus, they learned about the research process through participation in several different phases. (SK)

Discusses societal reasons for the abuse of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Suggests some solutions that are linked to current professional literature and thinking on international disability policy. These include reliable nationwide data on abuse, training about abuse for all personnel who work with children who have disabilities, and…

At the University of Alberta (Canada), the Amazon Project is identifying and mapping continuing-professional-development activities and resources available through the University. The project has met challenges related to definitions of terms, lack of relevant information and statistics, and faculty suspicion and resistance. (SV)

Describes the value of an electronic database to record information for school library materials being considered for addition to the collection. Discusses marking titles from journals, entering the information into the database, sorting options, fields to include, and transferring records to other databases when materials are received and…

Examines item-response theory (IRT), which seeks to model the way in which latent psychological constructs manifest themselves in terms of observable item responses. Provides an overview of the most popular IRT models and contrasts them with the techniques used in classical test theory. Results highlight several IRT advantages. (Author/GCP)