Techniques for improving response rate on mail questionnaire surveys are discussed. (JD)

A New York State project created a water quality database for private drinking water supplies, using the statewide educational program to collect the data. Another goal was to develop this program so rural residents could increase their knowledge of water supply management. (Author)

In 1995, the Broward County (Florida) Public Schools initiated a safe-school program. The first step was to ensure collection of accurate, consistent, and timely data. This article describes the district's revised data-collection and incident-reporting system, and documents the program's effectiveness in improving safety. (MLH)

Details the kinds of data and data sources used in "A Study of Schooling," the limitations of these data, examples of research questions explored, and the intentions of the researchers during analysis and interpretation of the data. (Author/IRT)

Northern Andean Spanish (NAS) possesses a complex system of structures used in impositive speech. NAS speakers choose from several grammatical possibilities when asking their interlocutor to act. This article summarizes the grammatical possibilities and explains how the different forms are used to indicate different levels of politeness. (15…

The major emphasis of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) has been directed toward individuals in the 1972 high school graduating class. Consequently, sampling parameters were established to ensure student representation, and the bulk of data collected were individual-level data. School-level data exist on a…

Guidelines for protection of human subjects in survey research demand that research designs provide for subjects'"informed consent." This paper reports procedures employed within a study of marijuana and other drug use which were in compliance yet avoided problems of nonparticipation and the gathering of inaccurate information. (Author)

The decision to document the development of the Teacher Centers Program failed to specify either the content or the process for documentation activities. The described field test was undertaken to determine which of two information-gathering strategies was the most effective--mailed questionnaire or telephone interview. While both methods produced…

Two papers on library statistics describe national programs to collect such statistics in a Western European country and a developing country in Africa: "Establishment and Organisation of National Library Statistics: The Nigerian Experience," by J. A. Dosunmu; and "German Library Statistics," by Peter Gruber. Dosunmu's paper…

Examines issues associated with the design of and statistical inferences from embedded experiments which vary the questionnaire content into sample surveys of broad populations. Provides an example of context effects in attitude surveys, a summary, and conclusions. (RT)

Reports on the work of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges in helping two-year colleges to define and establish their rates of transfer. Presents the outcomes of 1990 forums where study participants discussed problems and issues in data collection. (DMM)

Describes study of administrative data from Northern Ireland on the costs of family and child care services, using small area utilization modeling, to derive a new set of needs indicators that could be used within the family and child care capitation funding formula. Argues that small area utilization modeling produces a fairer and more equitable…

A study was conducted to develop a comprehensive program costing model for vocational education. This model produced a comparison between the cost of operating a given vocational program and the average aggregate cost of operating all basic education programs. The model is applicable for both the secondary and postsecondary level programs and can…

Gathering information is futile without implementation of programs based on the findings. Data from a single needs assessment study can provide useful information to decision makers at several levels. Studies of a general population of adults provide data for state, regional, and local continuing education practitioners. (CT)

Diary studies in language teaching are first-person case studies in which the diarist-researcher investigates his/her own language learning or teaching through by recording personal observations. A diary study of a teacher of English for Academic Purposes II is described, including data collection, procedures, and problems. (10 references) (LB)