Recent debates about qualitative methods have discussed the relative limitations and contributions of interviews in comparison to surveys and participant observation. These discussions have rarely considered how ethnographers themselves use interviews as part of their work. We suggest that Lizardo's discussion of three modes of culture…

The data used in this report come from the Principal Questionnaire of the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), a nationally representative sample survey of public K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the 2015-16 NTPS, public school principals were asked to identify their top…

International survey researchers are increasingly turning to a geospatial sampling approach known as gridded population sampling for finer resolution and a more updated sampling frame than conventional census-based sampling. To date, there have been no direct comparisons of accuracy between survey results derived from the two methods. This…

Most Canadian universities participate in the US-based National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that measures various aspects of "student engagement." The higher the level of engagement, the greater the probability of positive outcomes and the better the quality of the school. "Maclean's" magazine publishes some of the…

Compared to average workers in the United States, teachers exhibit higher levels of job-related stress, with roughly half of teachers showing signs of burnout. For policymakers and school leaders, some promising levers to lower teacher burnout are salaries, work schedules, and working conditions. This brief describes the findings of a new impact…

In common sociological research, income inequality is measured only at the aggregate level. The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate that there is more than meets the eye when inequality is indicated by a single measure. In this article, I introduce an alternative method that evaluates individuals' contributions to inequality as well as…

Children of teen mothers have worse academic, labor market, and behavioral outcomes in the United States, but it is not clear whether these poor outcomes are caused by having a young mother or driven by selection into teen motherhood. Understanding the reasoning behind poor child outcomes is important for designing effective policies to improve…

The article is devoted to the problem of survey items that ask for sensitive information. This factor has a significant impact on the quality and comparability of data from international surveys. We propose a methodology that can be used to comparatively study the level of sensitivity of questions. It is often used in public opinion polls as well…

This paper provides a critical analysis of the United Kingdom's higher education Key Information Set (KIS), which was implemented following the 2011 UK White Paper 'Students at the Heart of the System'. It argues that one of the central tenets of the KIS -- providing information that students within a free market can make an informed choice and,…

The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) was designed to complement the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and is coordinated by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. FSSE (pronounced "fessie") measures faculty members' expectations of student engagement in educational practices that are empirically…

This paper illustrates similarities and differences between two international surveys that assess adults' skills: the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the Skills Towards Employment and Productivity (STEP) survey. In particular, the paper highlights the issues that can arise for researchers interested to…

Every year, the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA conducts The Freshman Survey, a national longitudinal study that covers a wide range of student characteristics--from secondary school achievement and activities to educational and career plans to values, attitudes, beliefs, and self concept. To identify the academic and personal…

In his new book, Zachary W. Oberfield investigates the question of whether charter schools cultivate different teaching climates from those found in traditional public schools. To answer this question, Oberfield examined hundreds of thousands of teacher surveys from across the nation. The result is a trenchant analysis that deepens our…

The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) was designed to complement the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and is coordinated by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. FSSE (pronounced "fessie") measures faculty members' expectations of student engagement in educational practices that are empirically…

Findings on the reliability and cost-effectiveness of the use of cellular phones vis-à-vis face-to-face interviews in investigating health behaviors and conditions are presented for a national epidemiological sample from Lebanon. Using self-reported responses on identical questions, percentage agreement, ? statistics, and McNemar's test were used…