A survey sought information on the administrative factors contributing to high-quality funded research activity in 33 high-ranked but changing research universities. Influential environmental factors, faculty participation, research visibility, and key success strategies were considered. Results were linked to patterns in decline, rise, and…

Higher education institutions embarking on an assessment program are encouraged to identify current assessment activities on campus. One method of doing so uses a simple survey to help educate the campus about outcomes assessment while identifying assessment activities in progress. Methodology and results of one application of this method are…

Using national survey data, multilevel modeling techniques, and descriptive statistics, this study makes an effort to understand the influence of the financial context of institutions on the chance of college completion for low socioeconomic status (SES) students at four-year colleges and universities. This research shows that college completion…

Faculty at the State University of New York at Albany completed a questionnaire indicating the patterns and conditions under which they write for publication, the techniques they employ to facilitate their writing, and the factors that inhibit their writing. (Author/MLW)

Data from a national survey with 3,963 respondents indicate that genuine research assistantship experience is positively related to subsequent research involvement and productivity. Variables identifying productive and nonproductive respondents are reported, and recommendations are offered for training educational researchers. (Author/LBH)

A place-to-place migration pattern study shows patterns for first-time college students, especially freshmen, for each state and the District of Columbia in fall 1986. State-to-state matrix tables show patterns by sector (private and public). (Author/MSE)

A study to determine whether faculty conformity to the four norms of science identified by Merton are integrating mechanisms or whether they are forces of fragmentation is discussed. The four norms are identified: universalism, communality, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism. (Author/MLW)

A major research university's recently developed process for systematic evaluation of nonacademic units is described, and the steps in its development and implementation are outlined: review of literature on organizational effectiveness; survey of peer institutions; development of guidelines for review; and implementation in several campus units.…

Surveys of students both during and following a six-week strike by faculty at York University (Ontario) found that students faced academic and economic hardship during and after the strike and that only a minority of students supported the strike. However, attitudes toward unions, and not personal hardship, were the best predictors of student…

Reports a study that explored the extent to which theoretical estimates of attrition rates presented by Cohen and March (in a 1969-70 study) predict recent presidential departures within their national sample. Results show that in 1971-74 there was little change in the attrition pattern among these college presidents. (Editor/JT)

Reports results of a content analysis of higher education research projects in the U.S. and Canada in 1972. Interprets data on kinds of research, who does it, financial support, and dissemination. (JT)

The attitudes and demographic characteristics of a group of college freshmen were compared to those of a sample responding to a mail survey and a sample responding to a telephone follow-up. The three samples did not differ significantly in mean attitude responses. (Author/MLW)

Faculty and administrators responded to 32 activity statements related to "scholarship" on a frequency basis and on the characteristics of the role. Factor analysis revealed six dimensions of scholarship-professional activity, research (publishing), teaching service, artistic endeavor, and "engagement with the novel." (Author/MLW)