This digest provides an introduction to content analysis, a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of a text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding. This allows inferences to be made that can then be corroborated using other methods of data collection. In a technical sense, content analysis is not…

The exponential increase in the availability of microcomputers will have a tremendous impact on educational research. Already, the microcomputer has provided the key to the solution of some previously overwhelming methodological problems. It has enabled investigators to conduct exciting new lines of research while creating more general…

The main purpose of this paper is to delineate methods of data collection and coding currently being used in a longitudinal observational study of toddlers in 25 black families in Oakland, California. Data collection activities, accomplished through monthly three-hour visits to each home, focused on five types of data: (1) videotaped and…

This Digest summarizes the results of a survey administered to the American Educational Research Associations Survey Research Special Interest Group regarding the use of electronic surveys and discusses their responses in the context of the existing literature base. Topics include the conditions under which use of e-mail or Web-based surveys would…

This digest examines features of both process and impact evaluations to help officials of youth programs assess the programs for which they are responsible. With proper planning, evaluation can be part of a program without having to compete for attention and resources with the services the program is trying to provide. A process evaluation…

This Digest introduces ethical considerations related to acquiring and analyzing online data and provides resources to support sound practice. Because online conversation is relatively new and unfamiliar, and takes place at a distance, participants may not realize or may not remember that their conversations could be made public. A researcher…

During the 2001-02 academic year, a purposive, national evaluation was undertaken of "Windows on Literacy" and "Reading Expeditions," two new school-based programs produced by the School Publishing Division of the National Geographic Society (NGS). The evaluation sought to determine the efficacy of the new materials for…

This monograph reviews and synthesizes highlights from relevant writings on evaluation and suggests interpretations and applications for practitioners who plan and conduct various types of educational programs for adults. It suggests that planning and conducting effective educational programs for adults entails contributions by various…

With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest provides an overview of how…

This digest reviews the basic building blocks of a structured interview, points out some of the pitfalls in interviewing, and suggests ways for researchers to avoid these difficulties to produce questions that have the best possibility of generating reliable and accurate data on the topics of interest. The data collection instrument is a document…

The process by which the Educational Resources Information Center's Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation (ERIC/TM) acquires documents and the ways in which it offers them to users are discussed. Focus is on identifying how the ERIC/TM and members of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) can cooperate to increase…

The link between child abuse and handicapping conditions is examined in a brief summary of research studies focusing on mentally retarded, behavior disordered, and physically handicapped children. Although standardized data collection procedures are lacking, isolated studies suggest a disproportionate incidence of child abuse among the population…

With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest in Spanish provides an overview of…

Student ratings of instruction are widely used as a basis for personnel decisions and faculty development recommendations. This digest discusses concerns about the validity of student ratings and presents a case for their use in teacher evaluation. There are several strong arguments for using student ratings to evaluate teachers. Students are in a…

Two landmark efforts to describe the condition of American Indian and Alaska Native education nationwide and to call for specific solutions took place in the early 1990s. These efforts were the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the White House Conference on Indian Education. This digest summarizes Task Force and Conference recommendations…