Many higher education institutions are focusing on their admissions operations. They are attempting to ensure a steady stream of enrolling students, and/or attempting to ensure the quality or composition of their entering classes. However, many colleges have not developed a comprehensive method of tracking student cohorts, measuring retention, and…

Mail, telephone, and in-group methods of surveying youth are analyzed and an example of the use of the latter method during the early phase of Project 4-Health (4-H) in California is provided. Issues in data collection are associated with cost, time, survey item comprehension, and participation rates. Project 4-Health is a 5-year tobacco…

In response to ongoing needs for improved preservice field experiences for prospective administrators, more stringent state certification standards, and technical support for practitioners, mutually beneficial alliances are being formed between universities and local schools. This paper describes part of a continuing University Council for…

This paper investigates the utility of various procedures used to locate and interview veterans as part of a longitudinal research study being conducted for the Department of Defense. The populations are comprised of below entry aptitude standards males who entered the military during the late 1960s, and potentially ineligibles who entered between…

The purposes of educational paperwork, the reasons it may be excessive, and suggestions for mitigating excessive paperwork are presented in this document. According to the author, educational paperwork has four purposes: as a substitute for onsite inspection, as a "pseudo-contract" to encourage compliance, as a due process and…

This paper reviews objectives, methodology, and data analysis procedures of a study concerning educational innovation. This research, part of the Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations (PAEI) Program at the University of Texas at Austin, was undertaken to study interventions and their effects. It was considered a first step in determining…

A pilot study to ascertain the most cost-efficient and statistically reliable way of obtaining data on drug use by means of the telephone was conducted. Typically, surveys of sensitive or stigmatizing information have been contaminated by an unknown amount of error due to evasive or incorrect responses. The randomized response technique, which…

Focusing on the use of the interview in the Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations (PAEI) Project, this paper reports on the appropriateness of the interview as a research tool in change research and the types of information appropriate to its use. In this project, interviews are used to identify what an individual is doing, has done, or…

Program portrayal is one way of addressing the need for increased descriptive capability in evaluation research. Portrayal supplements traditional reporting by utilizing subjective, anecdotal, or impressionistic information, in an appropriately communicable form, to enrich the description of program transactions, settings, and outcomes. It is…

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…

Levin's (1975) sample-size determination procedure for completely randomized analysis of variance designs is extended to designs in which antecedent or blocking variables information is considered. In particular, a researcher's choice of designs is framed in terms of determining the respective sample sizes necessary to detect specified contrasts…

In an effort to help make products safer and to reduce product-related injuries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission relies heavily on consumer participation. To establish regulations, it utilizes the following: (1) an "Offeror" regulation whereby groups can offer to manage the safety standards development process; (2) a consumer…

The purpose of this three-year project is to implement elementary music programs in the public schools of the region by operating an exemplary center in music education, and by establishing procedural patterns for school systems to follow. Standardized and locally constructed tests and surveys show rapid progress of students and significant…

This report discusses SIGI, an operational example of a computer-based career guidance system. The system demonstrates that such a service can be performed well and at a cost within the reach of most schools. Data collected during the pilot trail indicate that students who had used SIGI were more aware of the career options open to them and the…

A five-question Web-based summer school survey was designed to measure student motivation for taking summer classes. Web technology has several advantages, such as no printing, electronic notification, high student access potential, and automatic collection of data in digital form. Notification was sent to all enrolled students (N=19,837) based on…